The adventures of a Kitsune
by DWM
Summary: When Naruto was ten years old, something happened. Since then he had something to hide, and he's not very happy about it. AU Female Naruto
1. Hiding behind a disguise

Disclaimer: It's really simple, I don't own Naruto, and I write only for fun.

**O0O**

Notice: After reading too much Ranma half fanfiction I began to read some other stories and that is including of course Naruto. I was very surprised that there are some girl versions of Naruto around. After that I was thinking about my own story with Naruto as a girl, a real strange story. I like to mess up with somebody's psyche…

Warning: This is my first story in English, and English is not my native language. I need probably use a pre-reader, but I hope that the story is still readable enough. I'm not very good with English and than the fact that I write this story a lot slower than normal. This story is still experimental, depends on the readers.

The characters are probably OOC.

**O0O**

**Chapter 1: Hiding behind a ****disguise.**

Sometimes life is a big adventure, and sometimes a life is just dull. I could tell you, that I would choose for the second option. Why? It's simple, my name is Naruto Uzimaki and I'm tired from constant hiding my secret, and that's not including the loneliness life that I have.

**O0O**

Today would be an important day for everybody in the class. It was the day that everybody took a last test for his or her graduation to a genin ninja. It's the lowest rank, but a great start, because this is a symbol that you have come of age. After your graduation you will receive the head protector, the mark that you finally are a ninja!

Everyone was very excited and very nervous of course. Naruto however, had another reason to be very nervous. The teacher Iruka had chosen for 'Bushin no Jutsu' for the examination. Everyone had to create a perfect clone from him or herself for graduation. Both teachers Iruka and his assistant Miziku would oversee the testing in the next room.

"_Argh, why that one?!"_ Naruto thought in frustration, while he suppressed his feeling to groan.

He saw how one by one of his classmates were leaving to the next room and returned proud with their own head protector. They did the clone techniques without a problem. When it was his turn, he gathered as much courage as he could and performed the Bushin no Justu. _"Please, please, let this be right!"_

Oh well, it was more like an attempt. When the smoke disappeared, there was not one clone, but strange enough, nine strange red bushy tails without a body lying on the ground. Naruto got a red face from shame. He knew what probably had happened, but how could he explain this to the teachers?

Now the white faced teachers were staring at the twelve year old blond boy. Iruka's face changed from white to full red, while Mizuki was frowning, after recovering from the shock.

"You… You **fail** Naruto! This test isn't a joke!" Iruka shouted really angry. He didn't know how the boy did it, but he could not understand why Naruto wasn't serious enough about this test! Yesterday he was so full of fire when they talked to each other, and now this? And the joke was a very tasteless one too.

Iruka's assistant Mizuki said not a word.

The tails on the ground disappeared. It was not even a joke, not that the teacher Iruka could have known.

Iruka shook his head and sighed, his anger already gone. "Naruto, I give you still one change. Create perfect clones. This is really your last change."

Naruto's face was sweating and the courage sunk him in his feet, because he knew that he couldn't do it. A transformation skill was not the same as a clone skill. And the reason was that a real clone would reveal the truth about him. He had forgotten that the clone skill was the last test, and it was very ironic that he already had failed two times for it. He could not even wait for the next year, because the same subject would come up again.

He had to make a difficult choice. Naruto had always dreamed to become the next Hokage of the village. But that dream became now almost impossible, all thanks to a stupid youkai, two years ago. And he could only blame himself…

The blond boy shook his head and sighed deep. He would save himself the trouble and he was probably better off by quitting. His shattered dream was of course not very helpful.

"Forget it Iruka sensei. I give up."

The teacher couldn't believe his ears, and his mouth dropped open. "What did you say?"

"I **quit**! It's clear that I'm not born for this ninja business, sensei," Naruto said angry, and he ran out the classroom without looking back.

The two teachers looked at each other and then Iruka watched the door where Naruto had left. He was really gone.

"I don't understand him," Iruka said a little upset. "Yesterday he was telling me, that he would be the next Hokage. Not that I would believe him, but..." He shook his head. "You saw him Mizuki, he was full of determination, but after the prank he lost all of his courage. That's not like him, giving up like that."

Mizuki was grinning. How Iruka couldn't see it, was very surprising. It was very obvious that Naruto had messed up his jutsu because he was already in a transformed state. He had tried to clone his transformed body. But they would see it, when he cloned himself and then transformed his clone to his image. It wouldn't matter how fast he would do it, because they see it through his hand seals… Naruto tried it to imaging it in his mind like a transformation. This messed up the technique and only a part of him was cloned. How surprising, his nine tails. Only the most experienced ninja could do this, but Naruto was still a beginner.

"_He is really the __Kyuubi reincarnated,"_ Mizuki thought, still grinning. It made no difference, his plans for using Naruto was unchanged.

**O0O**

After school, Naruto looked to the crow of people. The happy parents were complementing their children for the passing of the exam.

Some of the people saw a disillusioned blond boy sitting on a swing not far away from the school. Most recognized him through his orange jumpsuit and his marked face, his six stripes. Three stripes on each cheek that did him appear like a fox.

"Hey, that kid…," a woman noticed.

"Yeah, that's the child, and he was the only one who failed. It's for the better. We can't him become a ninja," another woman said.

Both nodded and looked with a cold glare to the boy, but he didn't notice it, because he was with his thoughts somewhere else.

Naruto took his goggles, and wanted to put it on his forehead, but after staring it for a few seconds he changed his mind. His career as a ninja was over. His dream as Hokage was as it was, just a dream. He had no idea how longer he could hide his true form from everybody, but he knew, when this would happen, than he had to run away from this village. He stood up and walked away, away from the happy people, the sickening scene.

What to do for the future?

Maybe he could begin a career as a ramen chef? He loved ramen and miso very much…

"Naruto!"

It was not a strange voice, and Naruto turned and faced a teacher. "Mizuki sensei?"

Naruto could only guess what the teacher with the grey-white hair color wanted.

The two settled on a balcony of a building that had a nice overview of the village.

"Why don't you want to become a ninja? I heard from Iruka sensei, that you wanted to become the next Hokage?" Mizuki sounded very interested.

The blond boy had not a real answer for that. The truth was really too strange. Naruto's eyelids narrowed to slits and his face looked almost like a caricature of a fox.

"I told you earlier, I'm not good enough to be a ninja. I'm only good for pranks I guess," the boy answered with a sigh. "Look, I want only recognition, and I thought that is to become the Hokage. When I would be the leader, then everybody will look up at me."

Mizuki could only snigger by hearing of these words. The Kyuubi wants recognition, what a laugh. He was more like be infamous. He decided to start with his plan. Tomorrow he would get what he wanted, and the village would get his scapegoat.

"Listen Naruto, if I told you, that there was another way to graduate, would you do it?" the teacher asked serious.

The blue eyes of the boy grew, forgetting his other problems. "Is there really an alternative?"

The devious teacher grinned and nodded.

**O0O**

It was very late in the evening, when Naruto sneaked over the small roofs of the buildings. He was lucky that there was a full moon. It would make the whole mission a lot easier. From the information that he got from Mizuki, the scroll would be in the building of the Hokage. The teacher told him even in which room he could find it. Entering the building via a window was not a problem; it was really too easy.

But when he thought there was nobody, it was a whole shock to hear suddenly the voice of the Hokage behind him.

Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, was very surprised to see Naruto sneaking in his house. _"What is the meaning of this? Is it one of his pranks again?" _

"What are you doing in my house at this hour Naruto?" the Hokage said calmly while he kept up a reserved posture with his everlasting pipe in his mouth. He would probably life longer if he didn't smoke.

The boy didn't answer him but he turned quick en looked him directly in the eyes. For a moment Sarutobi thought that the boy's eyes flashed blood red. But then, to his surprise, Naruto vanished in front of his eyes. It was not a speed maneuver; he was just gone as if he wasn't even there before.

The old man suddenly petrified when two slender arms came over his shoulders. The soft bumps behind his back did his heart made even going faster.

"Did you miss me?" a warm voice said in one of his ears. A second later his pipe clattered on the floor.

The Hokage couldn't believe this feeling. It was his long dead wife; but she was here, and so young. "Biwako? Are you not dead?"

The woman stepped in front of him and she took his face in her soft hands "Who said that, dear?"

A bleeding nose was the first reaction what the poor old man got, because she was naked as the day when she was born. The old man began to realize that he was in a Genjutsu, an illusion technique, and a very powerful one, too. It was done without even a hand seal. But he couldn't remember that one of Naruto's parents had a Kekkei Genkai, a blood limit. It didn't matter, because this was a very difficult situation for him. He didn't think he got even the willpower to break out of this one…

**O0O**

"I don't think, it was a smart move to use the Mindscape Jutsu," Naruto muttered, "but I feel me more exposed if I use the Sexy no Jutsu, lately. It's really too bad, that I couldn't use it on the exam. They are not stupid…"

He found the room with al the scrolls. It was a real treasury with al those techniques. But he had not the time to look in them, because he didn't knew how long it took before the old man could break out of the special technique.

"Ah, I found it!"

Naruto looked at a big scroll. It was heavy, and half as big as him. "I have only time to learn a few techniques to pass the exam, so I must go now."

As fast as he could, he leaved the building and ran to one of his favorite training places. He didn't notice that he was followed by Mizuki. The treacherous teacher left him alone, after knowing where Naruto was staying.

The boy opened the scroll and began to read. "Ugh, the first is the 'Kage Bunshin', a Shadow Clone technique? What the… A stupid clone again? It's useless for me now. But still… maybe it is not a bad idea. It's a technique for real clones and it seems that it has some advantages."

After reading farther he found some really interesting techniques. But all of them were very special, and he got the feeling that these where beyond the norm for a beginner ninja. And most of them were about sealing, very useless. But one was very interesting; it was a simple theory, a different approach for the hand seal techniques. Ninja's mold their chakra by concentrating on a hand seal. There are twelve hand signs based on the months of the year. (Chinese zodiac) By ignoring the hand seals and only through concentrating the chakra molding, you could probably create the same effect. Hand seals are a great memory aid, but a time consuming stupid tradition. Without the hand seals you could create the same technique probably ten times faster, because you did it in your mind, and not physical. It's maybe even possible to create new chakra molds beyond the twelve versions.

Naruto was grinning now, because he had the key for his little problem. He could combine the Shadow Clone with a transformation in a flash, if he could produce some result with this new knowledge at least. The idea that nobody could even saw what you could or would do was indeed very interesting.

With new courage he began with his practice.

**O0O**

At the same hour in the evening Iruka Umino had too much on his mind to catch some sleep. Hours ago he had a conversation with the Hokage about Naruto Uzumaki. He had told him that he was similar to him. He was an orphan too, and just as him years ago, he acted like an idiot, just because he was lonely. But with the only extra difference, Naruto did it with pranks, a lot of them.

But somehow he felt that Naruto had changed. He was different; he had changed from the boy he could remember from two years ago. Yes, he changed after disappearing for two weeks. It was, as if he was hiding something, he couldn't explain it. He acted more guarded. Could it be? Could it, that he knew that he was the container of the fox demon? It was possible, even with the rule that had to protect Naruto.

He could still remember the terrible youkai, the giant red fox with the nine tails. He lost both his parents, murdered by that monster. It was still ironic that the boy was the jail for that monster, because it was impossible to kill it. The beast was sealed in Naruto, at the cost of many human lives and the life of the Yondaime Hokage.

Iruka's train of thoughts was broken by the sound of the door. Somebody was knocking, and not too soft.

"_What __is happening?" _

He jumped from his bed and ran to the door. It was Mizuki with a panicking look on his face.

"What is it?" Iruka asked fast.

"We must go to the Hokage! Naruto has taken the scroll of Sealing, probably a joke of him!"

The teacher was shocked. That was something you wouldn't call it a joke. It didn't take long before every Ninja in duty came to the Hokage's place. There were many angry faces, and not only because Naruto had stolen the scroll. It's not nice to wake up rudely when you had a good dream.

The Hokage was present, and he walked to the restless group. "Please, be quiet," Sarutobi said calmly, "yes, it is an important scroll with forbidden techniques. If used wrong, it can cause us a lot of trouble."

The old man shook his head. "But before everybody wants to leave, I have a warning for everybody. It appears that the boy has a blood limit or something like that. Whenever you meet the boy, please don't look in his eyes whatever you do! Before you know it, he has you in a powerful genjutsu!"

A buzz of voices was the reaction. Everybody was more serious now. Iruka was baffled, and wanted to talk with Mizuki, but he was strangely absent.

"So, he took you by surprise, Hokage-sama?" a ninja asked worried.

The old man nodded, but a strange smile became visible on his face. "Let's say, it was not a bad experience. But don't let it fool you. It took me three hours to get out of it…"

They could better not know the real truth why it took so long…

"How dangerous is this genjutsu?" somebody else asked very worried now.

It took a few seconds before the Hokage answered. "I would say, an A-Rank type," he said slowly, while he puffed out some smoke from his pipe, his face dead serious now.

The old man did know that Naruto wasn't a bad boy, but he could easily kill somebody with that technique, or made somebody very vulnerable because he could not sense anything else. He experienced it all in his own mind world, even when he thought he moved around. After the whole experience he was surprised that he was still on the same place when he was attacked.

If Naruto would have known what the consequence was from his genjutsu, he would have never revealed it on the Hokage.

"If there are no other questions, than begin please. It has been hours, since the scroll was stolen. Hurry, and find Naruto! Be careful!"

"Yes!" sounded the collective voice and the ninja's where so fast gone that it created some wind and dust clouds on the now deserted place.

The Hokage entered his home, and walked straight to the room where he holds a crystal boll. It's a nice little object to spy on everybody and to find a certain boy.

Somewhere else, Iruka Umino searched over the whole village, on all known places, but there wasn't a sight of Naruto.

"_I should have checked the woods first,"_ Iruka Umino thought disappointed, sweating and panting now.

It was too bad, that Mizuki wasn't with the Hokage to hear the warning, or else he would have taken the situation more seriously. He took his time, and did spread the word of Naruto a little more. It was a part of his plan, and a costly mistake.

**O0O**

Naruto was exhausted. He did know that it couldn't be easy and it was indeed really heavy. But after the hard work, he had done it. He could create the Busnin no Jutsu combined with his own transformation without the hand seals. A logical person would say that it would take a lot more time to learn these. But Naruto was just too determined when he really wanted it.

He memorized just the important chakra versions, and he needed to learn the rest of the twelve soon.

But it was not that important now. He had learned a skill from the scroll at least.

Not far away he was seen by Iruka who was shaking from anger. He was so angry that he forgot the warning from the Hokage and he jumped in front of the exhausted boy.

"At last I found you, you brat! Hey, do you hear me!" the teacher shouted.

With a shock Naruto looked up and saw the sweating Iruka, the teacher with the horizontal scar on his face, and his brown hair. Naruto stood slowly up, and scratched nervously behind his head. "Hehehe, it looks that you found me, faster than I wanted. But I've learned a technique from the scroll…"

"_He __did what? He learned from that scroll? But that's impossible. He's just a beginner…" _

"That I don't believe it. What did you really? You're complete beat up. Did you fight somebody?" Iruka asked, his anger forgotten now.

Naruto shook his head. "No sensei, I learned a clone technique from the scroll. Mizuki sensei told me, if I learned from the Scroll of sealing, than I could graduate to a genin ninja."

"_So, he was really practicing__?" _Suddenly the teacher froze. _"But what did Naruto say? Mizuki?!"_

At the moment that Iruka realised that Naruto was used for the scroll, he felt a great danger behind his back. It took him a few little seconds to turn around, and to push Naruto away from a deadly rain of kunai's, although he could not save himself from it.

A very shocked Naruto stared to the tree, from where the attack came. A person stood on the branch of the tree. It was no other than Mizuki, the teacher that he had trusted. When he looked at Iruka, he saw him still moving.

Somehow the teacher had survived the attack, but it didn't look too good for him. He had a few kunai's in his body, arms and legs, and it looked very painful

When Mizuki saw the boy he got a grim expression. "Naruto, give me the scroll, fast!"

Now Naruto was really confused. Why would Mizuki attack his colleague?

"What's going on here?! Are you crazy, or something. Why would you attack Iruka sensei!"

"Naruto! Don't give him the scroll, even if it kills you!" Iruka shouted, while he took one of the kunai out of his body. He was definitely frustrated and angry. "The scroll has forbidden jutsu, and is dangerous in the wrong hands! Mizuki used you to get the scroll!"

By hearing these words, Naruto took a defensive position. Now he was pissed off. It was not nice to toy with somebody's feelings and hope.

"_It seems that __I will never make it to a genin ninja now,"_ Naruto thought very bitter. _"And using me for his personal goals, I will never forgive him for that stunt."_

Strange enough, Mizuki began to laugh. "Naruto there is no reason to protect it. Wait, maybe I can you better tell the truth about you, so you will understand."

"_No, he wouldn't," _Iruka thought with a shock. But his shock turned fast in anger. "No, don't tell him you idiot!"

The eyes of Naruto became small, while he glared to the traitor.

Mizuki ignored the warning and just talked further. "Twelve years ago, the demon fox attacked the village, everybody knows. But since that incident, there was a new rule created by the Hokage."

Naruto didn't react, thus the ex-teacher resumed. "It was even forbidden to tell you about this rule. The rule that nobody is allowed to tell you, that you in fact are the fox demon!"

The surprised boy raised an eyebrow when he heard this story.

"That is a lie!" Naruto shouted. "It is impossible because…" He had to put his own hand on his mouth before he revealed the truth to that idiot.

"Because what?" The ex-teacher asked grinning. "It is not impossible; you are the Nine Tails youkai. You killed Iruka's parents and you destroyed this village. Yes, you did! Why do you want to protect them and that scroll?"

"Stop! Stop it!" Iruka shouted. He was destroying Naruto step by step with his talk.

"Yes, stop it. I don't want to hear these stupid lies," the blond boy said slowly, while he began to shake from anger. "What would you know of that monster! Yes, I knew along of that stupid youkai. Even now it makes my life a hell, something I have never asked for it!"

"So, he knew it?" Iruka stared to the shaking boy.

Mizuki's face was frowning now. "Yes, indeed. But I still believe that he is Kyuubi incarnated, because I know that he hides his real body."

Now Iruka was surprised, and the traitor probably told the truth, because Naruto's body stiffened by hearing Mizuki's statement.

The boy cursed and looked away.

The traitor began to laugh at the reaction of the boy. "How do I know, you would ask, huh? It was when you did the Clone test. You messed up and cloned your tails by mistake, instead of your transformed body."

The mouth of Iruka dropped open. How could he miss that! Naruto had cloned really a part of his body, his tails no less. He didn't know how much Naruto's body had changed, but he was still Naruto, wasn't he? He saw only a poor boy, not the monster that had attacked their village and murdered his parents. A boy that never knew the love of his parents and only knew hate, yes, he was hated by the villagers. A tough acting, but a suffering boy… If he was the real monster fox, he would be already gone in destruction frenzy.

"Yes! Nobody will ever accept you, and I'm sure when they see the real you, they will totally hate you for sure!" Mizuki shouted very confident. "You know, that scroll that you have behind your back, it was the same scroll that was used to seal you up! You should even hate it! Now, give me the scroll as a good boy that you think you are, and I'll let you live."

It was a lie, because Mizuki needed no eyewitnesses. He had to kill both of them.

"I don't trust you." Naruto could feel the killer intent leaking from the man, and he would be an idiot to believe his words.

It was bad, that Naruto was still inexperienced with fighting, because he did react too late when the traitorous ex-teacher threw a giant shuriken in a fast moment to him. Frozen in place of shock, the boy couldn't move.

The sound of steel hitting meat was heard, but Naruto was surprised that it was not him, that was hit. He was speechless when he saw that it was Iruka that had covered him. The teacher has saved his live and used his body to protect him, but the deadly weapon stuck in his back and had penetrated his lungs.

"Why, why did you save me sensei?" Naruto could not understand why the teacher had saved his live. Why would he risk his own live for him, a boy hated by everybody, and just revealed a disguised monster.

But Naruto got his answer. Iruka began to tell that he acted as an idiot when he was younger. He wasn't great at school, and he was without parents as an orphan, so he kept acting to get some attention because he was really alone.

Real tears began to show on the teachers face. "I'm sorry Naruto. I was stupid not to help you, because I know how it feels too, the pain of loneliness."

Those emotions… The shell of Naruto was just a disguise, but the words of Iruka were real, and Naruto felt very emotional within his hart. How long could he hide behind this mask? The truth was, he wasn't even a real boy but he couldn't be a monster too. Real monsters don't have feeling, didn't they?

Mizuki said not a word, when Iruka told his little tearjerker; he was even a little speechless.

"You wanted to protect me, even if you knew that I'm not the Naruto that you see now?" The blond boy asked nervously, while he crawled away from the teacher that had protected him.

"Yes, I know that you are Naruto, and not the demon fox that had attacked our village. You are a member of the Hidden Leaf village and not the monster. Yes, you are Naruto Uzumaki," he answered while he looked straight in the boy's eyes. There was no lie in the teacher's eyes.

Now Naruto's body began to shake, but this time it was not because he was angry, he tried just not to cry in front of his teacher and the traitor, overwhelmed by his emotions.

However, Mizuki had enough of this, and he took his second big shuriken. He had only two of them, and used already one. "Ok, whatever. I still need the scroll, and I'm tired of both your little dramas. Die already…"

A girl's scream was heard.

He wanted to kill Iruka first, but before he could hurl his weapon, his body stiffened. It was the same ungodly feeling of terror that he felt from twelve years ago! Slowly he turned his face around and a moment later his weapon fell from his nerveless hands.

It was indeed Naruto, and he had just dropped his disguise. His real body was revealed now, but instead a boy, it was far from what Mizuki had suspected.

The word shocking would be an understatement, because 'he' was in fact a girl, and a few years older than what Naruto would be. The boy was really a freak of nature.

The first thing what he noticed, where the nine long red bushy foxtails behind her, and they were swirling around as if they had thoughts of their own. The other notable fact, were her big red fox ears on her head.

The girl had long wild red hair that moved with the red angry aura that she radiated and her face had almost a heart shape now, with the same six stripes on her cheeks and a cute nose. On her well formed body she wore nothing else than her sandals and a long black shirt, so that she was a little decent. She had never got a real use for clothing, since she was always in disguise and the tails were probably a great problem too. And she was less affected by the weather than a normal person.

The boy was no other than a vixen in disguise, a human Kitsune with nine tails!

Mizuki would have said that she was beautiful, were it not, that the direction of her anger was pointed at him. He noticed that he was the only one that was affected with her killer intent. And he didn't like the luminous blood red eyes that seemed to pierce him through his soul. The fact that he wasn't shaking was really because his profession, but another person would have been shitting in his pants. It seems that the tables were turned.

The wounded teacher was also very surprised, but he was still smart enough to remove the weapon from his back, but not without the pain. It was that he still could see some of Naruto's features, but otherwise he would have doubted that the girl would have been the former boy. But still, he couldn't believe that she was Naruto, the boy that he knew for years! This was beyond the joke of the Sexy no Jutsu…

What had happened two years ago?

**O0O**

- 09/11/2013 - Changed Hana to Biwako. At the time (2007) that I wrote this chapter, her name wasn't known.


	2. Secrets revealed

Disclaimer: It's really simple, I don't own Naruto, and I write only for fun.

**O0O**

Author Notice: I want to thank everybody that left a review, and / or put me on a story alert. That is really giving me some courage to keep on.

Warning: English is not my native language, so I write it very slowly. Can't without a dictionary and I'm really happy with the spellings corrector.

Have fun…

**O0O**

**Chapter 2: ****Secrets revealed.**

The other ninja's couldn't still find Naruto, and it was very obvious for them, that this was growing to a really big problem. With the scroll in the hands of Naruto, it was possible that he could release the fox demon. They gathered together and began to talk with each other, about other possible hiding places.

"We should have killed that brat, while we had still the chance," one of them grumbled.

More death threats were following fast. Afraid that the boy would release the monster, they had no longer the intention to get him alive.

It was really sad; fear could truly made humans do stupid things and acting like idiots.

**O0O**

Somewhere in the Hokage's house, Sarutobi had found the boy in the crystal boll by following Iruka. The guy had really a knack to find the tricky boy, and it didn't matter where he was hiding.

But after the revealing of Naruto's secret, he was just as flabbergasted as Iruka and the new found traitor. Even he couldn't believe it that the boy was hiding a secret this big. And to think, that he was just worrying a moment before, afraid that Naruto could break the sealing. It seems that it already had happened, maybe months or even years ago.

It could be that she was a full blood youkai now, or she could have merged with the fox, he didn't know for sure. There were too many uncertainties and many possibilities. But one thing was for sure! They were very lucky, that he… eh, she was still Naruto in person. And she was a beauty for sure; Naruto looked like her mother after all.

**O0O**

While the Ninja's were out for blood, and the Hokage was still puzzling about a certain Kitsune, the pressure somewhere else was very heavy.

Mizuki managed to take a step back from the now very threatening danger, while he was sweating from the tension that crackled in the air. The former boy, who was in fact a monster girl took the scroll behind her back, and let the thing drop it beside her with a bump.

"You really are trash, you know that?" the girl almost shouted.

The traitor was frowning while he glared at the strange girl. She looked a lot older now, and he judged her age around fifteen or sixteen, maybe much older. Because of this he took her instinctive more seriously. But it was not only because she looked older, it were also her dangerous looking eyes. But to ignore the situation, if the circumstance wasn't so serious, he would laugh about her condition. Do imaging, a twelve year old child locked up in an almost grown up body. Ninja children mature fast, but not that fast, and they don't change genders at least.

But he began to realise, ignoring the deadly intent, that Naruto was indeed an inexperienced kid. Mizuki's arrogance came back fast, and he took a better fight pose.

It seems that Iruka wasn't too concerned, but Mizuki filed this fact away for later.

"Trash you say, huh? I can still take you kid, even if you look like a stupid 'Icha Icha Paradise' reject."

Naruto had no idea what he was talking about and she glared at him, like the vixen she was.

Strange enough, the wounded teacher who sat on the ground against a tree, was red in his face. Talk about innocence... Iruka got the odd feeling that the writer of that book just earned himself a new enemy.

The girl took a stance, and used as a habit a hand seal for her next step. "Cheap talk trash! I will kill you, for trying to kill Iruka sensei!"

"Then try it, you demon fox! I kill you in one shot!" the traitor shouted.

She was very serious now. But she didn't want to use her special ability, because it was too easy to use it. No, she didn't want to use some cheap tricks to win this battle.

"Feh, one shot he says," muttered the Kitsune girl, while she began to realise what she was doing with her hands. "Let me show you what I learned from the Scroll of Sealing. I will you pay the pain a thousand times over," she said grinning now.

Her deadly intent and the red glow in her eyes disappeared. Then she put her hands behind her back, and took an innocent girl pose. This really angered the traitor.

"You stupid girl, what do you…."

The rest of his words didn't come, because hundreds of Naruto clones around him came in existence, all in boy form, all clothed in their orange jumpsuits! No hand seals were made, no technique was announced.

For the second time in a short period, Iruka and Mizuki were shocked, again.

The traitor fell on the ground, while he looked around him. "Wha? What is going on here? Are they real?!" To create so many of them, the girl must have a large amount of chakra.

Every Naruto clone began to laugh. "What's wrong? Come on, kill me with that one shot of yours!" a clone said. "Still speechless heh?" All the eyes from the clones began to glow with a blood red colour. The killer intent from them together was a thousand times worse.

It was useless to say, that Mizuki had a change to escape when the clones began to attack. The whole situation changed in a living nightmare for the 'poor' ex-teacher.

Iruka began to realise what Naruto had done. He... she had really divided herself into a thousand clones. It was in fact a high level technique, the 'Kage Bushin', a clone version with a real body. But the most amazing fact, she created them without even a hand seal, and all of them were already transformed in her original boy form. The girl learned them all from that scroll... She had really from her weakest skill, something created that was far better.

"_Yes, she__ deserves really a graduation." _

The Kitsune girl crouched over the unconscious and beat up body of Mizuki while she poked it with a stick. "Maybe I went a little too far?" she said a little guilty.

It was an understatement. Much later the ANBU would be cursing the idiot who had done this, because Mizuki's mind was complete broken. It would take month's maybe years to recover. There was probably only one person who could help Mizuki, but that person was not in the village.

The unknowing teacher could only smile. Naruto was Naruto, even as a girl, or sort of. However, her new appearance did give him a little trouble. Even with her nine tails, her fox ears, and her red eyes, she was still easy on the eye, or worse, it made her more exotic. But she needed really a wardrobe, and fast. And more important, Naruto needed to talk with the Hokage and it wasn't because the traitor.

But for now he had a surprise for a new graduated ninja. He made a hand gesture to the girl. "Naruto come over here. There's something I want to give you."

**O0O**

Sarutobi had missed nothing from the whole scene in his crystal boll. The old man looked up from his spy tool and sighed while he shook his head. It was amazing how the boy had done it, or better said, the girl. Yes, 'he' was a girl, a Kitsune now. After this he couldn't longer think Naruto as a boy, even if she disguised herself as a one.

The story behind this would be very interesting. The life of the boy was really messed up. A gender change, a body change, and the loss of some years of his youth; the kid must be truly headstrong to go on in life. A normal person would crack under the mental stress. Yes, Naruto had really earned the respect of the Hokage in that aspect.

The old man stood up, and began to walk around. He had to think about an important decision. The question was, must the masquerade go on. It was a fact that Naruto was just a twelve year old kid, mentally. She was just graduated to genin ninja by her teacher and had received the personal head plate from Iruka himself. But that was just the first step, because after that, the real test came.

Still, it was important that Naruto got the training as a ninja. The only problem was that everybody knew her as Naruto, the boy. It was risky, but she could hold up her disguise, until she promoted after the chuunin exam. Than she had hopefully enough experience to defend herself with the harsh life as a ninja. After that, she could always take a new identity.

It was better that Naruto would make the choice of her path. But it could still change if Naruto failed with the next upcoming test.

The Hokage nodded with this decision and he began to walk to the front door. He needed to warn the other men, that the search for the boy was over.

"Oh my dead old friend, if you would knew that you had no longer a son. Worse, your son became the creature that you had fought so hard. How sad…" the old man said with a heavy heart.

**O0O**

The next day, it was business as usual, as if nothing had happened. As a new graduated genin ninja, Naruto had to take a photo shoot, of course in her disguised form.

(To keep it simple in the future, Naruto will be called as a 'he' when she looks like a boy. It is to spare us the strange image of a girly boy...)

After that, he went back to school where he had to fill in a form. It was a little strange, that he was the last when it was his turn to enter the room for the registration. It wasn't even the same room and there were no windows. Behind a desk sat the Hokage himself together with an assistant, whose name Naruto didn't know.

A few long steps from the desk, was a wooden chair where Naruto took a seat. He took an easygoing pose, while he waited for a reaction from the Hokage. Inwardly, he did feel a little nervous. He fumbled with his new head protector. First he wanted it to save it for tomorrow, but somehow he was afraid that he would lose it. The head protector was something special to him. It was from Iruka, the teacher that had saved his life.

Sarutobi was reading the last document of the boy that sat in front of him. Naruto was remarkable quiet for somebody that was known as a loudmouthed kid. There was nothing interesting in the document. His hobbies were pranks and his favourite food was ramen, it was very childish and simple. But he was surprised too see that the photo of the boy was normal at least. Too bad, it still needed some rectification.

The Hokage looked up from the document. "Retake it. The photo..."

"Huh?" Naruto was surprised. "Why must you have a new photo? It's a good one! Do you think that I'm crazy, old man!?"

"No, but I need a photo of the real you, as a girl."

Naruto fell backwards from shock, with chair and all. Still lying on the ground, he looked up at the Hokage.

"Wha? What?" he stammered, unbelieving that the secret was exposed. "How do you know?"

The old man was smiling. "You know, I'm not the Hokage for nothing and I know what you are. And that beside, it was your teacher that told me about you, too. I want just a picture of the real you, don't be shy for what you are. It's important for the archive, but your secret is safe if you want to know. The man from the photo shoot has a professional secrecy duty, so he wouldn't talk."

Naruto stood up shakily. "And the other man?"

"If he would blab it around, than he's a dead man," the old man told the boy while he was looking at the now sweating assistant. "We all have our secrets."

With a sigh, Naruto took the chair from the floor, and placed it back in his original position.

"Yes, we all have our secrets," the 'boy' said with a sigh.

With a defeated feeling, Naruto released the transformation and showed her older true self before the Hokage.

The old man didn't look surprised, but he was just very good in hiding his emotions. The assistant on the contrary, was astounded and went beet red. Yes, a good looking human female Kitsune with big fox ears and nine bushy tails did that with most people. And still dressed in just a long black shirt and sandals wasn't really helpful.

"_Iruka was right. She needs some help with female clothing. Oh man, she doesn't even wear a bra,"_ the Hokage thought, almost getting a bleeding nose. "Naruto please, use your ninja transform technique for something more decent clothing."

After a few puzzling seconds, the kitsune girl understood what the old man wanted. A little red in her face, she transformed herself in the same orange jumpsuit, but she kept her original kitsune form. She couldn't help it with the choice of her clothing, she didn't know something else.

The old man had noticed that she had transformed without a hand seal, just as he saw it in his crystal boll yesterday. He knew about the theory, but it was very surprising to see it in action. It was refreshing to see that one person had managed to do it at least. It was also very hard to unlearn some things if you have done it for a long time, just as him.

Naruto wrapped her nine tails around her middle, took a seat again and fumbled with a few red hair strands. The old man talked about some registration things that she didn't understand and let her eyes wander. Then she looked doubtfully at her red hair in her hand. She had really long wild unkempt hair that reached to her middle. She never thought about it, because she was always transformed. She must look like a wild girl or something like that now.

"_Man, why am I __even thinking about this stuff!" _The girl swore inwardly and shook her head. _"I was born a boy. What have I done to deserve this unlucky life?"_

Her thoughts were interrupted when suddenly the door opened with a bang.

"Fight me old man!!" shouted a kid, while he was running to the Hokage. It was a nine year old boy, with brown eyes and hair that wore a long scarf and a strange childish helmet on his head.

"_Oh no. Not now! Not now please,"_ the Hokage thought embarrassed while he looked away. It was his grandchild and it was already the twentieth attack this day.

Naruto's left eye twitched, when she saw the kid. It was Konohamaru.

The boy halted suddenly in his attack and looked at the kitsune girl in the chair. "You! It's you again!" he shouted surprised while he pointed to the girl.

She jumped up and she pointed to the boy. "You are the stupid little brat!"

A second later another man came running in the room. It was the personal teacher of that little boy, and his name was Ebisu, the man with his eternally black glasses on his nose.

"I will defeat you this time, you nine tailed enemy," the kid shouted, and he tried to attack the girl, who was running around now. "Yes, I will be the next Hokage if I defeat you!"

"Sorry old man, I must go now," Naruto said fast, and than she disappeared through the door, with Konohamaru following next.

The surprised teacher looked at the Hokage. "Who, who was that girl Hokage-sama. It's a girl, isn't she?" he asked uncertainly.

"That was Naruto, and she is a girl," the Hokage answered with a deep sigh. It had no longer a benefit to hide the secret, if it was keeping up at this rate.

**O0O**

After running over a few roofs, Naruto managed finally to lose the little boy. It wasn't that he was strong or something like that, but he was just too persistent. It was not the first time that they had met each other.

She remembered the day, two months ago.

She was sleeping somewhere on a branch of a tree. It was a strange habit, but it was a safe place to rest when you wanted to hide. Try to keep up a transformation a few days long and you will know that it is very taxing on your chakra, even if you were a kitsune with nine tails. You could only restore your chakra naturally with sleep or rest.

But at one of those fatefully days, a little boy was walking through the wood. Playing ninja without somebody else was of course not very interesting. Out of boredom he threw some shuriken here and there in the trees.

It was bad luck for Naruto, or pure luck for that kid, depending on which side you were, that one of the shuriken almost hit her.

The kitsune girl crashed with a yell out of the tree, and a few seconds later she stood up while she was cursing like an idiot.

"Who did that!? I'll kill that idiot!" she yelled around. It wasn't really nice to interrupt a nice dream about food. Yes, it was about a lot of ramen…

Her eyes fell on the boy that stood before her all along, and she bended a little over to look at the boy. "It was you?" she asked a little surprised, while she completely forgot that she was in her real form.

Konohamaru couldn't believe his eyes, when he looked up at her. With big eyes, he stared at her ears and red eyes. She had even a tail too. No, correction, she had even nine of them!

The Hokage's grandson was not stupid. He knew the stories about the evil nine tailed monster fox that had attacked the village, twelve years ago. Even with his young mind, he could still made the connection with what he saw.

"You're really the evil red fox, aren't you?" he said without a trace of fear, while he pointed at her.

The mouth of Naruto dropped wide open but she recovered fast. "I'm not what you are thinking, you brat! Do I look like a fox to you? Huh!" Naruto said, while she pointed to herself with her thumb.

But the boy nodded his head fast. "Yes, you look like a fox! You have big red fox ears and you have nine hairy tails behind your backside. Even your face has the whisker stripes of a fox."

Somehow, he got a kunai in one of his hands and took an attacking stance. "I'm the grandson of the Hokage and my name is Konohamaru. It seems that they didn't manage to kill you, so I take it as my duty to do it. When you are dead, it will prove to everybody that I am strong enough to become the next Hokage! You're just a big girl now, so it will be easy…"

Of course was Naruto very angry after hearing this. "You, stupid **brat**!!" the girl shouted, while she smashed the boy on his head.

A few seconds later she stomped away, leaving a dizzy boy on the ground while she muttered about the idiot.

It was too bad, that the nine year old boy didn't want to give up. Even after his first defeat, he was every day in the wood, searching for the kitsune girl. And after a few unfriendly meetings, Naruto could only move out, to her regret.

**O0O**

It was a little later after Naruto's hasty disappearing, that the Hokage was looking at the big statues on the mountain from the open place on top of the school building. It was done with the peace when somebody turned up behind him.

"Hokage-sama, I've found you at last."

"What is it, Iruka," the old man asked without turning around. He recognised him by his voice alone.

"Did Naruto show up for the Ninja Registration?"

"Yes, she did," he answered.

Iruka noticed that the Hokage was in one of his thoughtful moods. "Yesterday I lectured Naruto at her favourite Ramen place. She still wants to become a ninja, but I have the feeling, that she lost most of the fire for it…"

The Hokage could only sigh about this and looked up at the statues again. "Naruto knows that her dream may be impossible. I know that she wanted to become the next Hokage. But how long you think, she could hide her true self?"

A small smile appeared on his old face. "It's very surprising, that she hided it for two years, as you told me yesterday. It's quite ironic that it was revealed at the test; her last test. It was her third time and her last chance to become a ninja. But you let her pass, after all. She proved herself with the fight against Mizuki."

"But," the Hokage said a little frowning. "Now we know that she is a powerful kitsune, it will all change. We can't leave her alone and unchecked. And then there is the risk with the adults in this village; the rule that I created, is not enough anymore. They will try to kill her if they knew, because they see only the monster and not the person. I cannot foresee what will happen if Naruto's anger know no bounds. It's even a possibility that she will turn in that, what they so fear."

The wind blew with the dramatic silence that followed.

"We need to know what happened with Naruto. I missed the chance with the registration, but it is very important. Iruka please, find the girl and bring her to my office. Oh, and do better first a medical examination. I need the medical reports too."

"Yes Hokage-sama," the teacher said, still shaken about the information. He could only guess what the future held up for Naruto.

"And I need to talk with my grandson," the Hokage muttered.

**O0O**

Five hours later, the Hokage looked up from his desk when the door opened.

"Yes, I know that it was important, but was that really necessary!" a girl yelled irritated to her teacher. "I hate that place and the smell there, and they were poking and prodding over my whole body. They were even pulling on my tails and ears! Ugh, and those embarrassing questions, they were really the last straw! Man, I really hate hospitals."

Iruka looked a little apologetically to the old man. "Hokage-sama, we are here as you asked," the teacher said, while he handed over the medical files of Naruto.

"Old man," Naruto said stubbornly with crossed arms, while glaring like the vixen she was.

The Hokage ignored the glare calmly and made a hand gesture to the chairs. "Take a seat, you both."

He folded his hands and he looked serious at the girl. "You know, hiding such an important secret is very dangerous Naruto. I wanted to talk about it earlier, but as you know, my young grandson interrupted this. It seems that he did already know about it for a few months. And I must say that you were very lucky. He was afraid that everybody wanted to hunt you, so he kept it as a secret for himself. Do you understand what I mean?"

Naruto lost her brass posture when she began to understand the seriousness of this problem. "I didn't realise it," she almost whispered. The floor looked very interesting now.

"No, you didn't," the old man said. "You look almost like a young adult, but you're still a twelve year old kid. It's not an everyday occurrence to see a kitsune girl here in my office. I'm sure that there is a whole interesting story behind it. Your teacher and I are very curious about it."

"Oh well," she sighed. "No point to hide it anymore."

She began to fumble with one of her red tails that she had wrapped around her middle. "I was ten years old, when I was walking in a shopping street…"

**O0O**

Yes, it was two years ago, when this happened.

Two shoplifters were running away from a few storekeepers. They had stolen some food but were caught in the act. They couldn't loose them but when they saw a ten year old blond kid wearing a white shirt with a fire symbol and blue pants, the thieves recognised him as the 'demon child' and the two nodded fast at each other.

"Here, catch boy," one of them shouted while they throw the stolen goods in his hands and disappeared around the corner.

The surprised Naruto looked at the food in his arms, and he did wonder what the meaning of this was. But before Naruto could see through the trap, he was encircled by four angry storekeepers.

"Now you are collaborating with thieves huh! Don't expect mercy from us," one of them said, while cracking his fingers.

Naruto was not stupid and didn't wait long. He dropped the food fast, kicked someone between his legs, hard, and he escaped by jumping away using the back of the bented and groaning storekeeper.

The other three men took off in pursuit, after the escaped kid.

Naruto swore angry, while he was running for his life. "Why me! When I find these bastards, they are dead meat, I swear!"

The boy could loose them eventual by escaping in the woods. He did climb high up in one of the trees, and jumped from tree to tree so that they couldn't even find his footprints.

"I lost them at last," he panted on a branch while leaning against the trunk. "Aw man, that was really close. Why do they hate me so much! They are even using me as a scapegoat for their own stupid things now."

He looked up to the sky and sighed. "I wish that I was really strong. Yes, even stronger than the four Hokage's. Then the people would respect me at least."

Sometimes it is good to have some wishes. But there is a saying that you must be careful with what you are wishing for…

It was at that moment that Naruto slipped clumsy on the branch and fell backwards down the tree. After crashing painfully trough some other branches, he fell unconscious on the ground.

"Wha. What happened?" the blond boy asked, when he opened slowly his eyes. "Ouch," he whimpered, when he stood up slowly. His whole body was aching. This was not something he wanted to experience again.

He didn't recognise this place. It was like a sewer, with low water everywhere, not more then a puddle. It was really a very dreary place, but the most irritating situation was that it looked like maze.

"The last thing that I could remember, was falling down," the little boy muttered.

At first Naruto thought that he had fallen through the ground, into a sewer. But when he looked up, there was no hole in the ceiling. A second thought was a water flood, but his body and clothing were not completely drenched from the water, so he wasn't washed away.

Still puzzling, he began to walk around until he felled something strange. He felt a strange power in one of the corridors, something he couldn't ignore. When he walked through the passage, he entered a hall with a gate. It was not just a gate, but an enormous gate that looked like as a prison with all the bars. High up on the gate was a piece of paper with the word 'seal' written on it.

He had no idea why there was gate, but his eyes fell on a strange glowing giant red sphere behind it. It was like a beautiful red pearl, and it was really attractive. Naruto walked to the gate so that he had a better look on it. He wanted really to touch it, but whatever he did; he could not open the gate.

"I can only open the gate when I remove the seal," he muttered, while he was looking up. He didn't even thought about it why there was a seal in the first place.

It was too high to jump and he could do only one thing. He began to climb, using the bars of the gate. A few seconds later he ripped the seal off, but then something happened unexpected. With a scream of pain he fell on the ground and began to roll over the floor. It was as if his stomach was on fire, but after a minute the pain was gone, thankfully. Sweating and panting, the boy stood slowly up and pulled his shirt up. Strange enough, he couldn't see a trace of it on his body. But he would have sworn that it was real fire that he had felt.

A little shaken, he shook his head and looked at the gate. He was very surprised that the gate was open now. The path was free, and a he got a satisfied feeling. The giant glowing sphere was calling out to him and Naruto walked to the strange object. Yes, he wanted really to touch it. His hand was almost on the red surface, when something was nagging him. Why had he the feeling that it was dangerous and wrong if he would touch it. Yes, it was powerful and almost sweet, but why had he a bad feeling about it.

The thing was still calling out to him. _'Touch me, take me… I'm yours only…' _That was the feeling that Naruto had, if it could talk.

Naruto ignored his bad feelings. "What would go wrong," he said stubbornly while shrugging his shoulders.

They were his famous last words, as a human…

The little boy was screaming now. The pain of fire was nothing with what he felt now. Yes, the pain was a thousand times worse when he had touched the surface of the sphere. And he could not take his hand back, because he was completely paralyzed of the pain. It was really too late for regret.

The blackness that followed was blissfully accepted.

Naruto opened his eyes. He was lying on his back and was looking at the night sky. The cicadas were chirping in the trees and there was a calm breeze.

How long was he unconscious?

Slowly he came in a sitting position and began to look around. "Was it all a dream? What has happened?" But there was something not right. When he looked down, his eyes grew very big, because there was an unpleasant surprise.

His clothes were in shreds because he had grown. Naruto had grown from 135 to 165 centimetres long now. But there was something that a little boy never should have grown. Breasts! He was no longer a boy, but a girl!

A high pitched scream of a girl was heard all over Konoha.

The Hokage looked up from his desk with a sad face. "A girl must just have lost something precious to her…"

**O0O**

"And that is what happened," Naruto told sadly. "It took days before I could overcome my shock, while I was hiding in my house. I was lucky that I knew the 'Henge no Jutsu', the transformation technique, or it would be a lot tougher for me."

She shook her head and sighed. "Clothes were a pain in the ass too. I had to alter my boxer shorts for my tails and money is still a problem too. But I figured out that I didn't need the clothes, because of the transform technique and the fact that I can keep myself warm without them. It's because I'm a kitsune, I guess."

"But something is still bothering me," Naruto said frowning. "I know that it had something to do with the nine tailed fox Kyuubi. But why was he not there?"

The Hokage and Iruka were looking at her with strange thoughtfully eyes.

"Yes, there are too many unanswered questions," the old man said tired.

**O0O**

To be continued.


	3. Red eyes

Disclaimer: It's really simple, I don't own Naruto, and I write only for fun.

**O0O**

Author Notice: Read more on the end of the chapter.

Warning: English is not my native language, so I write it very slowly. Can't without a dictionary and I'm really happy with the spellings corrector.

Have fun…

**O0O**

**Chapter 3****: Red eyes.**

Naruto left the office of the Hokage and sighed. Then she transformed herself back to her boy form without a hand seal.

"Too many questions indeed," the boy muttered, while he walked through the hall. "The old man talked a lot, but he had no real answers. Now I'm not even sure anymore if I was born a boy or a girl to begin with."

Naruto passed a strange ninja that hided his left eye with his forehead protector. Even with his grey hair colour, the odd man reminded him of a bird, a crow. He didn't like him, because his smell reminded him of a dog, just like Kiba Inuzuka. A crow and a dog, it was really a strange combination when you would think about it. Naruto hated dogs.

The black right eye of the ninja followed him suspicious, but Naruto just ignored it. After years he was used to it.

**O0O**

The Hokage stood before a window that had a view over the village. "Iruka, what do you think?"

"It's too weird," the teacher replied. "You said that it was a possibility that Naruto was changed in a boy after birth by the Yondaime Hokage himself, and with the transformation the change was undone. It still doesn't explain why Naruto is older. Than there is the possibility that Kyuubi was a female fox. And the last option is really strange; a final prank!"

"Yes," the old man said serious. "Don't forget that it is a kitsune, even if it was evil. But I'm more worried about the possibility that Kyuubi has escaped by loosing his power. An old fox can be very smart, you know."

The teacher frowned. "We are not sure. Maybe the Shinigami took the fox or there is the possibility that Kyuubi had committed suicide. But I don't even like the idea that the fox could have merged with Naruto. I can't see a trace of the evil youkai in the boy's personality!"

"Just as I said earlier, there are too many questions," the Hokage said, and blew some unhealthy smoke of his pipe.

"_Hmm, __I forgot to ask, if she wanted a new identity as a girl…" _

**O0O**

It was almost evening when Naruto walked home. The blond boy looked at the sky and watched the evening glow.

"I wanted to be a ninja, huh? It seems that I got my wish after all. And then I wanted to become the next Hokage. But that is impossible now, isn't it?"

He looked at his hands. They were the hands of a boy, not even his real hands. He growled with an inhuman sound and made a fist with his right hand.

"I'm an idiot!"

**O0O**

The next morning, the awakened blond boy opened his eyes and stretched his body while yawning. He scratched behind his head and looked out the window. There were no curtains but the sun was a good replacement for an alarm clock and a nice way to wake up.

Naruto had no longer a bed, since he slept on the floor. Yes, he had a nest like sleeping spot with a lot of pillows and a woollen blanket and don't ask; a white soft rabbit doll.

It was the day for the explanatory meeting at school. Yes, he was graduated now, and it was important to attend the meeting.

He took a simple breakfast, a tasty sandwich and some milk. He did understand that he could not live of ramen only. But when he wanted to drink out of the milk carton, he halted. Naruto frowned and sniffed at the opening, and then he looked at the date.

"Ugh, the milk has gone bad. It's good to have a good nose, saved me a stomach pain today," Naruto said while he turned up his nose at the milk carton.

After that little incident he put his head protector on his forehead and left his home.

"_I'm still asking myself, why I am going to the stupid meeting. __I have such a bad gut feeling about it, and it's not the milk, that is for sure! I wish that I never had taken the offer from that traitor Mizuki." _

**O0O**

"Huh? What the heck are you doing here?" one classmate asked Naruto, "You failed, or did you forget it?"

Naruto pointed with his thumb to his head protector. "Iruka graduated me, happy now?"

"How? I can't believe it!"

"Bah. I did beat up a stupid lying traitor, and I got my head protector as a thank you," the blond boy explained.

But before the classmate could ask who the traitor was, a girl voice interrupted him. "Hey, will you let me through?"

It was Sakura Haruno, a girl with a pink hair colour, green eyes and she was dressed in a red cheongsam. She smelled even like her namesake, like the blossoms of the sakura tree.

Naruto stood up, and the other boy moved aside. The blond boy knew where she wanted to sit. At his left side sat a brooding boy with dark hair and eyes, Sasuke Uchiha. He was clothed in white shorts and a blue shirt with his clan logo on his back. Sasuke was a boy that always acted cool, but Naruto didn't like him. The feeling of death was strong around him, but he couldn't deny it that he somehow smelled… for girls he smelled nice. It was saying like 'Take me! I'm free!' Maybe it was that reason why so many girls desired him. Naruto could pick up the scent that humans couldn't smell; pheromones.

The blonde boy could only shake his head when he saw how Sasuke was trying to ignore the amorous Sakura when she sat beside him.

"_You know, these two are asking for a good prank, __but I'm not really in the mood for it…"_

Five minutes later, Iruka entered the classroom, and before he began his introduction he glanced at Naruto for a moment.

"Today, all of you are real ninjas. But don't forget that you are still a rookie Genin. Everybody in this room has to face the next part. You all will be divided in a three man team, and each team will have a Jounin sensei. When you complete the assigned duties, the sensei will give you the next instructions."

Everybody was hoping for the best, when the teacher had explained about the three man teams.

"_A three man team? __Ugh, everybody is okay, but not Sasuke and Kiba…"_ Naruto thought hopefully.

The teacher resumed his explanation. "We tried to balance each team's strength; the weakest, the strongest and the balanced person."

Now everybody was surprised and not happy. That means no strong teams and an unwanted third wheel in your group.

Iruka ignored the unhappy students and began to read aloud, until team seven.

"_Hokage, what were you thinking,"_ the teacher thought. "Next, team 7; Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha."

"Yes!!" Sakura yelled.

Sasuku didn't say anything. But reading his thoughts… _"A fan girl and the 'dead last'. The worst people that could come in my way…" _

The blond boy smacked with his forehead on his desk. "Why me… I'm with the gloomy boy… I must be the avatar of Bad Luck or something!"

"Hey, I heard that," yelled Sakura. "He's cool! And don't call him gloomy boy!"

"Bah, just don't get in my way, you both," the Uchiha boy said unemotional without even looking at them.

"_Just great, this is my team, a stupid girl in love and a loner gloomy boy!"_ Naruto became angry and shook his head. He was maybe disguised as a twelve year old kid, but still an older kitsune and wasn't that stupid.

Naruto stood up and glared at Iruka. "Sensei! Who put our team together?! It cannot work with a love struck girl and a loner that don't believe in others!"

The pink haired girl looked at Naruto with murderous eyes while Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

Many girls had an outcry of unbelief. How could he criticize the Uchiha boy?!

Iruka was a little upset._ "It seems that she is not too happy about it. Naruto, believe me, I have my doubts too, but…" _

"A little out of character, isn't he?" someone whispered.

The sharp ears of Naruto picked it up, and he went beet red. "Ah, forget it," Naruto said with a sigh and was sitting again. "It's not that I really care… I just wish that…" The blond boy said nothing more and began to sulk.

The teacher shook his head. "Listen, Sasuke's grades were the best, but you Naruto, you were the dead last. We have to balance the teams, understand? And for your question, it was the Hokage who put the teams together. Don't you trust the Hokage?"

Naruto frowned and looked away. "Yeah yeah. He's great." He didn't want to tell his truth feelings anymore.

**O0O**

"This is Naruto's house?" a one eyed masked ninja asked the Hokage. It was a real poor place in a bad condition and everything was second-hand.

"Yes, but what would you expect from a lonely orphan. But that aside, she can be very troublesome, but I think you can handle her. You did read Naruto's files, didn't you?"

Kakashi Hataka nodded and he still shuddered when he thought about it. And then the rumour he heard about Mizuki. He could only phantom the idea what could have happened to break the mind of that man completely. She was indeed a girl with dangerous eyes…

He crouched down at Naruto's sleeping spot and picked up a few long strands of red hair. It was a little proof that she sometimes slept as a girl. Then his eyes fell on the rabbit doll and smiled when he pictured an image of a big girl, sleeping and curled up with the doll in her arms.

"_Maybe she is not as dangerous as I thought…" _

He stood up and shook his head. How would he handle the disguised girl?

"Oh, and I almost forgot, your team will also have Sasuke of the **Uchiha** Clan. Good luck," the Hokage said with a little pity.

"_This is asking for trouble…"_ the now sweating Kakashi thought.

"Yes, sir, and thank you," the ninja replied dryly.

**O0O**

Almost everybody was gone, but there were still three students in the classroom. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were still waiting for a teacher, a very late teacher.

After a half an hour restless walking around, Naruto began to sleep with his head on a school desk. Waiting was boring…

Sakura could only shrug her shoulders when she saw that Naruto took a nap.

"How is it possible? I can't believe it that he still had graduated," the pink haired girl said with a sigh. _"Just ignore the idiot, we still have Sasuke!"_ a voice responded in her head. You could tell that the girl wasn't really lonesome with an inner mind that was talking back in your head.

"It's not mine problem, and he's just lucky," the Uchiha boy replied. "I'm not interested and it will not make any difference."

"The sensei is really late," she said tiredly and leaned against a desk, ignoring the cold answer of Sasuke. Sooner or later she would get the attention of the boy, she was sure of it.

The patience of the two was almost at an end after a half an hour more when Naruto suddenly awakened and looked up.

The door opened and their new teacher appeared at the doorway. The only strange thing was, he didn't move a finger after that. It was like he was petrified.

"Sensei?" Sakura asked uncertainly.

"_This is really a Jounin? Just freezing up like that?"_ the Uchiha boy asked himself.

They didn't notice that behind them, Naruto was looking with glowing red eyes to the very late teacher with pure killing intent; a Nine Tailed Kyuubi worthy.

After a few seconds, the killing intent disappeared when Naruto began softly to laugh. It seems that the new teacher wasn't as great as he thought.

"_I take my words back,"_ Kakashi thought nervously._ "She's a bitch."_

He recovered fast and smiled, at least you could see it at his eyes. "Hmm, I was just surprised, because my first impression… I don't have a high opinion about you guys!"

The mood was dropping fast for the three students.

"_Smart guy.__ I remember him… It's the crow that smells like a dog."_ Naruto was peeved.

**O0O**

They took a place in a terrace on some building, and they sat on the ground in front of their new teacher.

"Okay, let's begin with some introductions," Kakashi started. "I want to know your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies. Just things like that."

Naruto said nothing, and somehow affected the other two classmates who didn't say a word.

The ninja sighed and shrugged. "Let me start then. My name is Kakashi Hatake. Don't want to tell you about my likes or dislikes. For my dreams? I'm still thinking about them, and I have a lot of hobbies. Your turn, foxy redhead." Payback is a Bitch.

You could almost see the question marks around Sakura and Sasuke, and Sakura wanted to protest that she wasn't a redhead, but the ninja had his eyes on somebody else. Everybody looked at Naruto when he began to grumble.

"Hey, don't look at me; I'm a blonde. And the only thing we learned about him, is his name," Naruto yelled. The crow was really trying to blow her cover. "Feh, but fine. My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I like ramen and sleeping. I dislike… dogs… and you! My dream, I don't really know anymore. Maybe a great ramen chef, that is better than a Hokage or a lifelong ninja."

"_She's somewhat realistic. __But why a ramen chef? It's true that she lost the fire for a shinobi. That's really troublesome; we must keep her on a lash, because we can't leave her alone anymore." _Kakashi could still remember the conversation with the Hokage.

"And my hobbies… Pranks, I guess." Naruto ended with a shrug.

"Okay, next you girl on the left," the ninja sighed.

The girl nodded. "I'm Sakura Haruno, and the thing I like is…" She was blushing when she glanced at Sasuke. "The person I like…" She was still glancing at the brooding dark haired boy. A loud happy scream was her answer for her future dream, and her hobby was no different with Sasuke still as her subject. She only disliked idiots. Great, Sasuke must be happy now, he wasn't an idiot, at least.

Kakashi was regretting his decision to take this team; an unmotivated disguised fox girl and a fan girl who was only interested in love. He was almost afraid for the last person of team seven.

"You are the last boy. Let's hear what you have."

The Uchiha boy didn't move a finger when he began to talk. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There is too much I dislike and don't really like anything. My dream… no, it's not a dream. I want to find my missing brother. He's probably still hunting that red eyed man… And I have an ambition; the resurrection of my clan."

The eyes of Naruto were fixed on Sasuke now, and he couldn't suppress a shiver. Red eyes; he had the feeling that it somehow had to do with him.

"_That was __almost three years ago, but that you don't know Naruto, it was before your transformation,"_ the ninja thought, while he looked at the blond._ "And you Sasuke, what are your plans? Don't grow in an avenger boy; don't follow your brother's path."_

**O0O**

**Author Notice:** And now we have a path set for this story. But I'm not sure for the pairings. Sasuke and Sakura are still young, but I have no idea what to do with Naruto, because she is free game. She will mature fast, because it is in her nature as a kitsune youkai. Even if I will decide for a pairing, it will be a normal one. To think about it; Iruka and Naruto share the same pain… just an idea. I'm open for suggestions...

To** T.E. Rankin:** thanks for pointing out the mistakes.

And thanks to the reviewers and hidden supporters.

_**DWM **_


	4. A Promise

Disclaimer: It's really simple, I don't own Naruto, and I write only for fun.

**O0O**

Author Notice: Read more on the end of the chapter.

Warning: English is not my native language, so I write it very slowly. Can't do it without a dictionary and I'm really happy with the spell checker.

Beta'd by Lintz

Have fun…

**O0O**

**Chapter 4: A Promise.**

Kakashi sighed inwardly when he looked at the three new students. They were very promising ninjas, but all three had their own problems.

Naruto was a natural genjutsu user, a stamina freak and then there was fact that he could use ninjutsu without any hand seals. He had the unpleasant honour of getting a taste of his power in their first meeting. He would be a nightmare for every respected ninja, but with his dream gone, he had become realistic and lost his interest for a ninja career.

The pink haired girl, Sakura, was a very intelligent girl and he suspected that she had great control over her chakra, but it seemed that she wouldn't use her head for a long time…

Sasuke, the 'last Uchiha', was very good in skill terms, but he could only judge him after the test. His Kekkai Genkai was very promising too. However, with his brother missing and his clan murdered…

"Okay, I've seen enough. We will start our duties tomorrow."

The pink haired girl looked up at him. "What duties, sensei?"

"Hmm… First I must see if you're good enough to be a Genin; we start with Survival Training," answered Kakishi with a nod.

"Feh, survival training…" Naruto shrugged; it was nothing new.

"Why training? We've had enough training at school already," asked Sakura.

Kakashi just smiled (at least, Sakura _thought_ he smiled, it was hard to tell with him and his mask). "It's not normal training and I'm your opponent, but…" He was chuckling now.

"Hey, what's so funny, sensei?" The pink haired girl was not amused, and she had a bad feeling about it.

As usual, Sasuke was very quiet, brooding the whole time. Who knew where his thoughts were. And as for the blonde, it didn't matter to Naruto why Kakashi was acting so strange. The boy had no reason to be afraid of him or the test; he had nothing to lose, nor the desire to do his best. He even had a plan to pay a visit to a certain restaurant in the evening. Yes, he wanted to learn how to make some good ramen and he hoped that the ramen chef was willing to teach him.

The chuckling ninja shook his head. "No… yes… Well, it's just… You guys are going to flip out."

"Oh? Going to freak out? Please, humour us, sensei," Naruto stated nonchalantly. Kakashi eye smiled.

"Of the twenty-seven students, only nine will be chosen as Genin. The rest go straight back to the Academy. This test is extremely difficult, with a failure rate of over sixty-six percent!" the ninja answered with a straight face.

Now even Naruto was shocked. The pink haired girl wasn't very happy that her fear was affirmed and somehow even Sasuke seemed nervous. He should have been congratulated, having held the same expression for such a long time and not imitated Naruto, but he was really struggling.

Kakashi began to laugh. "I told you, you'd freak."

"What a waste of time," Naruto said with a sigh. He stood up slowly, shook his head and turned around to walk away. "Everybody worked so hard… Then this! I'm sick of it."

"Huh? What are you doing, baka?" Sakura asked surprised. "I know that it's hard, but to lose your courage already?"

The Uchiha boy just frowned when he saw that Naruto wanted to leave.

"Wait Naruto, I'm still not finished. Sit down!" the ninja ordered with a warning in his voice.

'_This is bad…'_ Kakashi thought worried. _'I have to find something to get her motivated, otherwise I will lose her...' _

The blond boy turned back and looked at Kakashi with his eyes narrowed for a moment. The ninja was almost afraid that he would get a second taste of Naruto's deadly intent or worse, but the boy was strangely calm and he walked back and then sat on the ground again.

"Anyway," Kakashi resumed, "tomorrow you will be tested on the training field. Don't forget your equipment."

The ninja took a few printouts from behind his Jounin vest and gave each other one of them. "The rest, you can read on the papers. Don't be late… Oh, and before I forget, skip breakfast. Or you're going to throw up…"

The three read the information, not really eager.

Sakura got a determined expression on her face when she realized what was at stake. _'This is bad… If I fail, I'll be separated from Sasuke-kun. This is really a test of love!'_

'_I cannot, and I will not fail.'_ Sasuke crumpled the paper in his hands. _'I will see you again, nii-san.'_

'_Feh. It's a waste of paper, nothing new here.'_ It wasn't important to Naruto. He thought it would be a good idea to learn some more about Chakra molding tonight. He had only learned six of the twelve, and up until now, he was only able to do Bunshin and Henge without hand seals.

"Okay, that's all. See you guys tomorrow. Ja ne." With those words, Kakashi disappeared in a whirl of leaves and left the three alone.

**O0O**

The day wasn't over yet, and Naruto had still some time to do something useful. While she walked down a street, she sensed passing people staring at her again and sighed inwardly.

'_Why,'_ she wondered, _'why am I still using this boy disguise? It's just asking for trouble. Most of the adults hate me when they see my boy form, but I did it because of the Academy, and I'm not really fond of my girl form. But, if I can pull off a joke like 'Oiroke no jutsu'… Would it be that much of a problem to live as a girl sometimes?' _

The blond 'boy' shook 'his' head. _'Now that I've graduated, it's time for some important changes. I will need some good quality weapons, and I know that most storekeepers are not very helpful when they see a certain blonde boy.' _

Naruto began to chuckle and started walking home. She had a plan.

**O0O**

"This looks great!"

Naruto nodded, as she looked in the mirror. She was just a twelve-year-old version of her real body, without her kitsune features. Even her whisker marks were gone now. For her clothing, she took the easy way. She had copied the red cheongsam and the tight green shorts from Sakura, and it looked good with her long red hair. With her red eyes, she looked still dangerous enough and people would take her seriously.

Half an hour later she entered a weapon shop. The shopkeeper smiled friendlily and Naruto inwardly shook her head. The disguise worked perfectly. Why had she not used this idea much earlier? She really was an idiot, wasn't she?

"Can I help you, miss?" the stocky man asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yes, I need a few shuriken and kunai. Just cheap ones, I don't have too much money. I need them for my first test tomorrow."

"Ah yes, just graduated I see. You must be happy with your head protector, aren't you?"

The red haired girl fiddled with her head protector and smiled. "Yeah, it's special to me."

The shopkeeper nodded. "I know the feeling. How many do you need?"

Naruto held a finger against her chin, calculating how many she would need. "Twenty shuriken and ten kunai… Yeah, that should be enough for now."

She paid for her new weapons, thanked the man and left the shop with everything in a bag. _'That was easy. Feh, they will probably never know the difference between a real monster and a kid. The fools…'_

But there was one boy that Naruto forgot about, Konohamaru. And he always had the luck to find a certain redheaded vixen.

It didn't take long before Naruto realized that she was being followed. The pursuer was very easy to spot; even a civilian could have spotted him.

Naruto sweat dropped, when she identified him as Konohamaru through his scent.

'_What the heck? Does he follow every redheaded girl now?'_ He couldn't possibly realize that she was the kitsune, her new disguise was perfect, and the boy had only seen her true form!

Fifteen minutes later, Naruto was pissed off. She turned around and looked straight at where Konohamaru was hiding. There was a wooden fence, but 'being one with the woodwork' didn't work when you used a sheet painted with the stripes going the wrong way.

"Stop following me!!" yelled the redhead. "Even a blind man can spot you, idiot!"

The little boy lowered his sheet and grinned. "Hehe… Impressive, it's what I expected of a kitsune!"

"Na… Nani?! You know?" Naruto's jaw dropped.

Konohamaru nodded. "Yeah, I must say, you almost had me fooled, but there aren't many redheads in Konoha and you still look too much like your true form."

The redhead sighed shaking her head. "That's true, but only a few know the real me. It's funny that it was you who recognized me in my younger form."

"Yeah, I'm not the grandson of the Hokage for nothing! It's too bad that I can't fight you, Ojiji told me that you're a good kitsune, not the evil one that attacked our village."

Naruto smiled when she heard this. "That's good."

"So, it'll no problem if I let you be my boss!"

"Eh, boss?" The redhead was a little surprised.

"But in exchange, you have to teach me the trick that you used to defeat Ojiji!" he yelled desperately. "Please, Boss?"

Naruto was really surprised now. The little boy must have been desperate to call her, a girl, his boss… She understood that Konohamaru wanted to be the next Hokage, but why?

The girl led Konohamaru to a quiet training area. The little boy didn't know that it was her natural ability that she had used to defeat the Hokage. There was an alternative, Oiroke no Jutsu. But she didn't really want to teach a little boy such a perverted skill, even if she was originally a boy.

She turned to Konohamaru and sighed. "Listen carefully to me. I defeated Oji-san with something you don't have. As a Kitsune, I have the natural ability; a Kekkai Genkai, if you want to call it that, to use powerful Genjutsu."

"Whaaa? That's not fair!" the little boy yelled disappointed.

"Yeah, I know. But I can explain the trick why he couldn't break it so easily. Most grownups are perverts, and are weak against a transformation of a (cough) almost naked beautiful girl. Most perverts are easily defeated with this technique. But you must understand that as a girl, I cannot teach you this technique. You have to learn it yourself."

"Bah, you're useless. Taking me to this spot and then saying you won't teach me," Konohamaru said angrily, stamping his foot.

"Hey, I'm not done!" Naruto said, holding her hands up. "I will teach you something much better. It's something that even the Hokage can't do!"

Now Konohamaru was interested. "What is it?" he asked, eager to beat his grandpa.

Naruto grinned. "I will show you, a simple Henge"

Without a word, she transformed into an exact clone of the little boy.

"Huh? I don't see the difference with this technique. No wait, I know! I saw no hand seal!" the boy exclaimed.

Naruto grinned, while transforming back to a twelve year old girl. "Correct. I use no hand seals for my jutsu. Ninja are very proud of their skills, but somehow they show everybody our techniques with hand seals and shouting the name of the jutsu."

The boy nodded, he understood. Grownups were indeed crazy.

"With this technique, you will be a very special ninja. If you don't shout out your technique, you'll be faster and nobody will know what you can or will do," the girl explained.

"Wow, that's great! Is it difficult to learn?" asked Konohamaru, really enthusiastic now.

Naruto shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe, maybe not."

She began to teach Konohamaru how to forget the twelve hand seals and how to only use his mind. Without realizing it, Naruto was setting up the basis for a new generation of more lethal ninja.

It took hours to teach the boy how to do Henge without hand seals. Naruto even forgot her plan to visit the ramen shop. But finally, Konohamaru could do it.

The little boy was elated, but he began to realize that he couldn't defeat his grandfather, not as he was now. He had not learned a new jutsu, only a new approach to the basics.

"It's all well and good, but I can't defeat my grandpa with this," Konomahura said, sighing.

Both of them were sitting on a fallen branch of a tree, while drinking some juice.

"Hey Konohamaru, why do you attack your grandpa so much?" Naruto asked.

The little boy answered after few moments. "Grandpa gave me the name Konohamaru, naming me after the village so no one would forget it. But nobody calls me that, all they see is the 'Honourable Grandson',"

He frowned as he thought about it. "Nobody sees me as Konohamaru and I'm sick of it. That's why I want to be Hokage."

'_This__ boy… I wanted to be Hokage too, but I can't anymore, not as a kitsune. But is it different with him? He wants recognition too.' _Naruto frowned.

"Baka. You know, there will come a time when your grandpa can't be Hokage anymore. Then you will just be Konohamaru again, and not the grandson of the Hokage," the redheaded girl replied. "But you're lucky. You have more of a chance to become the next Hokage than me. The truth is, to become the next Hokage, you need to work hard and more important than that, you need the trust of all the people in the village."

The little boy was a little surprised, but nodded. He hadn't seen it this way. Then he looked at the girl beside him. "You wanted to be Hokage too?"

"Yeah, but because I'm a kitsune it's impossible. What do you think they will do when they know my true nature? As I said, you need the trust of everyone…"

"Yeah, you're right, Boss. I will work hard and become the next Hokage. And when I'm the Hokage, I'll show everyone that you're a good kitsune! That's a promise!" Konohamaru exclaimed.

The redheaded girl began to smile. "Thank you, Konohamaru. I'm glad you trust me."

**O0O**

To be continued.

**Author Notice:** You will notice an improvement in the story, now Lintz is my beta-reader (Thanks). While I wrote this chapter, I'm still thinking how to do 'the Test' with Kakashi. However, I can tell you, it's not easy for me.

About the pairing, I'm still not sure. It seems that Itachi is a favourite. Iruka got a vote too, by mail. More interesting is the notice of Shikamaru. The two would indeed be an interesting pair. With his 'bad luck' with females, he would indeed end up with an older girl (grin). And then Lee, when you like great comedy… but, his eyebrows…

I'm always open for suggestions.

_**Blitzfury:**_ It's a type error… and I found a few more…

_**Smith119 & gogeta408:**_ I knew of that problem, and that's indeed why I had chosen for a ten year old Naruto, just before he hit his puberty. But it's true that nobody would accept such a change easily…

_**DWM **_


	5. Genjutsu, a Rabbit and a Test

Disclaimer: It's really simple, I don't own Naruto.

**O0O**

Warning: English is not my native language, so I write it very slowly. Can't do it without a dictionary and I'm really happy with the spell checker.

**O0O**

**Chapter 5: Genjutsu, a Rabbit and a Test.**

It was very early in the morning when three young ninjas came together at the agreed training place. Naruto and Sakura were still half sleepy since they were not used to wake up so early in the morning. Sasuke was a different story since it was clear that he was an early bird, no doubt because of his daily training.

"Ohayou," Sakura greeted still yawning.

Naruto mumbled a greeting and the Uchiha gave a short nod as he walked silently to the other two. Kakashi sensei was strangely still not present and after half an hour it was obvious that he apparently forgot their appointment or worse, took his time, just like yesterday.

The still half sleepy Naruto decided to spend his time better, climbed up in a tree to fall instantly asleep on one of its thick branches. Sakura looked up when she heard a light snoring and then shook her head.

Waiting, however, became very tiresome after a few hours and the pink-haired girl was slowly regretting that she hasn't followed Naruto's example. With a huff she crossed her arms and sat on a stump of a tree. Even the stoic Uchiha gave up and followed soon Sakura's example and sat on the ground.

Many hours later than the appointed time, Kakashi finally arrived.

"Hey guys, good morning!" the late ninja greeted with a relaxed attitude as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"You're late!" yelled an irritated Sakura and Sasuke could only silently agree.

"Ah sorry, I found almost the answer of the meaning of life but… lost it again."

The two young genin looked strangely at the ninja.

"Hmm, where's Naruto?" Kakashi asked a bit disappointed.

The pink-haired girl pointed to a tree. "Naruto is still napping and maybe that was the smartest thing to do, bah." If Sakura had known that Kakashi would be so late, she could have used the lost time to sleep at home. Inner-Sakura agreed with her.

Kakashi shrugged and pulled out a shuriken, a throwing star from his pouch and threw it where Naruto was asleep. It hit the branch just a few millimetres from his face.

A moment later, a swearing blond boy fell out of the tree.

"Argh! Konohamaru, is that you again!" he yelled annoyed while whipping his head around to look for his attacker.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, while Sakura and Kakashi sweat dropped.

The one-eyed ninja coughed to get their attention and then took a big alarm clock out his backpack. He put it on a wooden pole and activated it.

Kakashi wanted at first create a special mission because of Naruto, but lazy as he was, decided that he hadn't enough time for a good preparation and stuck with his first plan.

He took two bells from behind his jounin vest and showed it at the three young genins.

"Here are two bells. Your task is to take these from me before noon," he explained and bound them on his belt.

Then he took two lunchboxes out of his backpack and put it on the ground in front of the pole.

"And for those who cannot get a bell… they get no lunch."

The three young genin were not happy at all. Their protesting stomachs remembered them that they had not eaten and understand immediately that Kakashi had put them in a difficult situation, hungry and weakened.

"But remember, there are only two bells. One of you will definitely lose, and the loser will be sent back to the Academy!"

The faces of three genin frowned grimly. Naruto's eyes narrowed. The disguised kitsune smelled a trap, figuratively spoken. But what was the trap? What had Kakashi planned?

"Is that a promise?" the blonde genin asked while scratching his chin with his index finger. His face looked almost fox-like now.

Kakashi just nodded his head quickly. "Yeah yeah, that's a promise," he answered, not really thinking on it and went further with the mission details. "You got permission to use your weapons, but be warned, you won't succeed if you are not dead serious. Are there questions?"

"But, it would be dangerous for you!" Sakura exclaimed worriedly.

Kakashi held a hand up. "Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself, because if you fail, it will be back to the Academy for you."

The pink haired girl nodded while inner-Sakura assured her that they will succeed in this test, hopefully.

Sasuke was not really convinced that the man was that good, but if their sensei thought that he was a first-rate ninja, then it would be his own responsibility if he was killed or wounded by accident.

The ninja waited a few seconds but it seems that it was clearly enough for them.

"No questions? Then we will start NOW!"

The three young genin ran away to hide themselves. The terrain had enough cover with all the trees and bushes.

Kakashi looked around and scratched lazy behind his head. "Good, one of the basics of a ninja is to hide," the ninja mumbled. "And it seems that they have hidden well."

Sasuke had chosen a spot on a branch, one of the many trees in the area while Sakura and Naruto hid themselves in the bushes.

Meanwhile, the jounin walked to a tree and started to lean against it while he took a strange orange book out of his pouch and began to read.

"_What is he doing? He doesn't look for us? He just starts reading a book?"_ The Uchiha didn't like it, not one bit.

The pink-haired girl was very nervous, and the man just standing there didn't make it any better.

Sakura and Sasuke felt that they were not taken seriously. They really didn't like this attitude of their new sensei, it was if Kakashi wanted to tell them that they were not even worth his time...

This could take hours, time that they didn't have. The young Uchiha could no longer control himself and grabbed his shuriken.

**O0O**

Naruto yawned while he crawled through the bushes looking for a good hiding spot. It seems that they already were fighting, telling from the sounds of yelling behind him. Meanwhile his hungry stomach did tell him that he needed something to satisfy it. With a sigh, he rubbed his belly.

Suddenly his attention was drawn by something else and his eyes fell on a rabbit. A funny looking brown rabbit with two long ears. One of the rabbit ears twitched nervously when the blond boy settled his eyes on the animal.

One of Naruto's eyebrows twitched.

The rabbit's nose twitched.

That did it; he couldn't longer resist this feeling…

"Cute!"

The poor rabbit had no chance and a second later it was in his arms in an air taking tight hug and had no way to escape. Of course the need for the o-so-important air became very strong and the rabbit started to struggle wildly in his arms.

Naruto's stomach began gurgling louder and he grimaced. "Ugh, so hungry..." His eyes went slowly to the animal with long ears that he firmly held in his arms.

The rabbit wasn't crazy and was now struggling for its life!

"Found you," Kakashi sing-songed suddenly behind him.

"Aaaaah!"

Naruto let the rabbit loose from fright that immediately ran in the bushes and disappeared out of sight.

"My rabbit," the blond boy muttered disappointed. Not long after that, Naruto realized who stood behind him. He turned around and started to growl.

**O0O**

It was really a strange sight to see only a head above the ground. Sasuke Uchiha could have a say about it, now he was literally up to his neck in trouble. The fangirl Sakura not far from him had passed out at the sight of a head without a body which didn't help improve his already ridiculous situation. Sasuke began seriously to wonder if she was kunoichi material at all. With a grumpy sigh, the Uchiha had to accept that the one-eyed ninja was far... far above his current level.

The jounin dodged the throwing stars thanks to a Kawarimi technique, a simple body switch. After that, they had a brief skirmish in which he almost got hold one of the bells. But it was not enough, so he tried his fireball technique, Goukakyuu, and that was were Sasuke had made a fatal error. He was on the assumption that he got Kakashi and waited…

Kakashi, however, was gone at that moment and before the Uchiha understood where he was, namely beneath him, the jounin pulled him into the ground.

After that, the one-eyed ninja acknowledged that Sasuke was better than his peers, but that was all. Then Kakashi had left him alone and disappeared. A few minutes later he was found by the pink-haired team-mate.

Now Sasuke stared grimly at the unconscious Sakura, then shook his head and started to wriggle himself free. But his attention was drawn to a rustle; a new person emerged from the bushes.

**O0O**

The blonde genin stared at the orange book that he held in his right hand, while he hold two bells in the other hand.

Where was the fun when one look into the eyes was enough to send him to lala-land, although Naruto couldn't help but to chuckle. Kakashi forgot apparently in his enthusiasm what he was capable of… Oh well, it probably would take some time for the one-eyed ninja to break out of that Jutsu. The Mindscape Jutsu could show you many things, including your deepest desire or your worst nightmare.

Naruto scratched his nose on his thoughtful face. Who would have thought that this was Kakashi-sensei's deepest wish? From what he had seen... he quickly shook his head. His kitune nature made him much too curious.

But the big question, what was the orange book that sensei held in his hands? Naruto took it from him out of curiosity and stared at the title.

'Icha Icha Paradise.'

A not too pleasant memory came back to Naruto and he narrowed his eyes.

"Hey, is that not something that Mizuki talked about it?" the blonde genin muttered and opened the book somewhere in the middle and started to read.

A moment later he began to blush and quickly closed the book with an angry face.

"Icha Icha Paradise reject... yeah right." This was smut... and he couldn't appreciate it, absolutely not. Naruto turned the book around and found what he sought, the author; Jiraiya.

"Pray that our paths never cross, pervert," he growled deeply with an unnatural sound.

Far away, a toad sage sneezed… hard.

It seems that Kakashi-sensei needed a serious talk about his hobby. No wonder he didn't wanted to talk about it.

Naruto's eyes went in the direction where he suddenly picked up the scent of his team mates, Sasuke and Sakura, and began to walk in their direction. Naruto arrived at the place where they had started and then looked surprised at the scene before him.

He snorted and burst out laughing.

He laughed so hard that he fell and rolled on the ground while the tears ran down his cheeks. It was not an everyday sight to see a head stuck out the ground while an unconscious Sakura lay beside him with the foam in her mouth. It wasn't difficult to understand what had happened...

Sasuke stared with a red face at the laughing Naruto while the pink-haired girl was still unconscious and 'blissfully' ignorant of the situation.

"Dobe! Stop laughing and just help me idiot!" the angry Uchiha almost yelled and began to wriggle in the sand.

"Okay... okay," Naruto shouted while he stood up and wiped away the tears of laughter. Then he started to dig out Sasuke with a rapid pace. The Uchiha raised an eyebrow when he saw how effective the blonde idiot scooped away the sand and threw it away between his legs. It gave him the impression of an animal that was digging a new hole, especially with his fox like face and his whiskers marks. His eyes went to a familiar orange book that lay on the ground, and his eyes widened when he saw the two bells that lay on the book.

That was impossible... Naruto couldn't possibly take these from Kakashi! He was the 'dead last' of the class!

While the now freed Sasuke crawled out of the hole, he grabbed one of the bells and showed the thing in front of Naruto's face. "How did you get these bells? Don't tell met that you fought against him and won!"

Naruto snorted and wrinkled his nose. "Fighting? Against that pervert?"

The Uchiha just raised an eyebrow when he heard the strange answer.

"That orange book, it's smut," Naruto explained. "He's a pervert."

Sasuke closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "Hn… okay, so he's a pervert. But that doesn't explain how you got these bells… and **that** orange book!"

The blond boy grinned. "If I told you that I put him in a genjutsu, would you believe me?"

Sasuke stared silently at Naruto with a look that told him clearly that he was a complete idiot. So no, he wouldn't believe him.

With a sigh, Naruto grabbed the other bell and looked doubtfully at the thing. "Does it matter? I got them from Kakashi-sensei when he fell in my 'trap'. Sometimes you need just the luck and the timing, that's all."

If he was the old Naruto, he would definitely have bragged proudly about it, since he got the bells first. But now… he wasn't in the mood for it.

"Hn…" The Uchiha crossed his arms and looked away from Naruto. He still didn't believe him, but he couldn't ignore the fact that he had the bells. Kakashi had not returned yet, so it was maybe possible that he was still trapped somewhere.

Naruto closed his eyes and wondered what he should do with the other bell. There was something strange going on with this test, something important that he was missing but couldn't see it clearly…

But did it really matter?

Why wanted he to be a ninja? Oh yes, he really wanted to be Hokage for recognition. But that was no longer optional for him, not as long as he looked like a female chibi-Kyuubi. Anyway, but here he was in the middle of a test that was important to accept them officially as genin ninja, if they succeeded.

But now he was thinking deeply about the problem, he knew that the chance was high that one day, he would be chased away from Konohagakure. Then he would become a missing nin, a nukenin...

A nukenin! That sudden thought made him turn his stomach. Nothing was worse than ending up like a nukenin! Be hunted forever, like dogs after a fox! If only he realized this earlier. As a genin ninja he was walking right in a death-trap! His mind was made up. He had to stop with this immediately, anything but ending up like that! With a sigh he made his decision. He had to resign, no more mister ninja for him.

Naruto's thoughts were distracted when he heard the voice of the awakened Sakura. It seems that she came back to her senses.

The pink haired girl stood slowly up and blinked. The last thing Sakura could remember was Sasuke's head on the ground. The sight was so horrible that she... ugh.

When Sakura got her most beloved person in the eye she was relieved that he was still in one piece.

"Sasuke-kun!"

For Sasuke could do something, he was already in the arms of Sakura. "Sasuke-kun, you're alive!"

"Hey... hey! Stop, don't hug me you stupid girl!" the now highly irritated Uchiha cried while he tried to free himself from the unwanted body contact.

Sakura finally let him go after a lot of struggles. Then she saw that Naruto was also with them and found to her surprise that both Sasuke and Naruto had a bell.

Then she bowed her head disappointed, sighed and clenched her little fists. "I see... that you both already have a bell. Well, that's... okay. It's my own fault... Ah well, I don't think that I could be a good kunoichi if I could faint so easily, ne?"

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other silently. The Uchiha grimaced; if anyone deserved the bells, then it was the dobe! But he faced a very difficult decision. He looked at the bell in his hand and with a sigh he gave the bell back to Naruto.

"Uh?" Sakura looked surprised at Sasuke and then to Naruto. "Sasuke, why do you give your bell to him?"

The Uchiha ignored Sakura's question and motioned to Naruto. "Dobe, you came with the two bells. So it's up to you, who will you choose as a partner?"

"Eeeeh?" The pink haired girl stared with disbelief at Naruto now. "He? He had the two bells?" she screeched.

The two boys winced from Sakura's voice.

"Man, what a voice," the blond boy replied with a grimace while he held his hands against his sensitive ears.

Naruto then stared at the two bells that he held in one of his hands. "You know, I've thought about it for a while. Personally, I'm no longer motivated to keep going on. I want to stop as a ninja, too many personal problems you see. But you Uchiha… and Sakura-chan, ah well, here..."

He gave them each a bell. Sasuke nodded, but Sakura stared with open mouth at Naruto. She had never expected this of him.

"Teme, remind that pervert that he has given us his word."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, but then he remembered what Naruto had asked of Kakashi. He nodded and a smirk appeared on his face.

Then Naruto picked up the orange book and put it away.

"And what will you do with that book dobe?" the Uchiha asked, while Sakura got a surprised look on her face when she heard about that strange orange book.

Naruto shrugged. "Probably burn it. I hate that book already with a passion."

The hidden humour was not lost on Sasuke…

Their attention was drawn by the ringing of the alarm clock. The test was over.

"The time is up," Naruto muttered. Then he looked at Sasuke and Sakura and nodded. "Good luck and I hope that you will find your brother..."

"Hn..." The Uchiha gave a short nod, while Sakura was still flabbergasted but also nodded.

The blonde ex-genin turned around and with a short greeting gesture he disappeared slowly from sight.

Sakura shook her head and sighed. "I never thought that Naruto could be so cool and self-sacrificing."

"Hn…" Sasuke gave his 'trademark' reply. The problem was that he was stuck with the fan-girl now. He had the feeling that he somehow ended with the worse deal.

"Damn, where is that rabbit! I know that he's still here somewhere!" Naruto's voice yelled in the distance.

The two remaining team mates sweet dropped. But after that Sakura realized something important.

"Where is Kakashi-sensei? Why is he not already here?"

Sasuke frowned.

**O0O**

Kakashi Hatake blinked and looked around him. What happened?

The last thing he could remember was that he liked the moment when Naruto held a rabbit in his arms. Inside he couldn't suppress an 'Aaaaaw'. It was obvious that the young genin had something with rabbits. But anyway, he had to be tested. He decided to show him his friendliest side, after all, Naruto was just a mask... a mask worn by a redheaded girl, although a dangerous one.

That was his biggest mistake. When he showed himself behind him by surprise, Naruto let the animal loose from fright. It was understandable since he had hidden against the wind and a he was of course very silent. The problem however was that he stared next straight in her glowing red eyes.

Naruto was gone in a flash after that. He swore and realized that he had landed himself right in a genjutsu. How could he make such a rookie mistake!? It was so stupid; never underestimate your opponent! But okay, all what he had to do to get out of this genjutsu was...

"Rin-chan... where is Obito?" A voice sounded in the distance.

He blinked again when he heard the voice. A voice that he didn't heard in an eternity. The ninja couldn't resist it any longer and ran in the direction from where the voice came from.

It was strange when the surroundings became foggy, but Kakashi ignored it. There, behind the bushes!

"Ugh..." The ninja bumped against a person and fell on his backside. Surprised he looked up.

A smiling face looked down to him. "Ah, there you are Kakashi. You're surprisingly late! What happened to your strict rules, hmm?"

Kakashi stared speechless at the man whom he had not seen for years. Was he a ghost!? Blond spiky hair with jaw-length bangs, blue eyes...

Minato Namikaze shook his head and chuckled. "Speechless Kakashi? It seems that you're not yourself today."

From whatever Kakashi Hatake had expected, this wasn't what he had foreseen. The situation, in which now he found himself in, was the most bizarre situation he had ever experienced. This had to be a dream, right? This couldn't be a genjutsu, it couldn't be!

The blond man gave him a hand and a still shocked Kakashi grabbed his hand. He was pulled up and soon stood upright again. The ninja quickly noticed however that Minato was much bigger than him and noticed something more. As like a reflex went his hand to his left eye.

His mask covered his eye no longer. That was not all, he was a thirteen year boy again.

"Hello Kakashi." A voice of a girl sounded from his left.

The thirteen year old boy stared at a girl he had thought never to see again. It was Rin... Shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes and her notable purple marks on her cheeks.

"H... Hello R... Rin," Kakashi stammered. He could no longer suppress his feelings. Real tears ran down his cheeks and he quickly gave Rin a big hug.

"Uh? Kakashi what?"

"S... Sorry, I've missed you terribly, Rin," the ninja muttered emotionally.

A thud on the ground startled Kakashi and he stared surprised at the third person he had always missed.

"Ah sorry, I had to take a long detour, and the old lady came again and I... and why are you hugging Rin?" responded the new boy surprised. He stared strangely at Kakashi who held the girl still in an embrace.

"Oh... Obito," Kakashi muttered still in disbelief. He let Rin loose and took a step towards the surprised person. Black hair and eyes, the goggles on his forehead. It was indeed Obito Uchiha.

"Don't you **dare** to hug me Kakashi!" Obito said with big eyes with his hands raised defensively while he took a step backward. "Don't know what your problem is, but **don't **hug me!"

The situation was so bizarre that Minato burst out laughing, he couldn't help it. This was really bizarre.

**O0O**

To be continued.

**Author Notice: **Oh boy, yes, I'm still alive. Why I didn't update this story for years? Well, Real Life comes to mind. Depressions, loosing interest in writing, my terrible and slow English, and I got a few issues with this story. It's only because people are still putting this story on their favourites or ask me to continue.

The problem, is Naruto a youkai? I doubted that demon was the right translation, so I wanted to use the word youkai. But after some research, I had to conclude that demon was also the right translation for youkai. Why? We are talking about spectres, evil spirits and other phenomenon which can possess humans and objects. While the Japanese use the word youkai very loosely. The Chinese word for youkai means literally 'evil spirit'. And no, how much you will talk or comes with hundreds of definitions, you can't chance the nature of this… evil thingy. Evil is bad…

But the manga of Naruto goes further and now we know that the Kyuubi is a chakra monster… How surprising.

So what is the Naruto in my story? She's not a demon, not a youkai, not a bakemono, but you can call her just an old plain monster-girl.

I don't know if I ever will complete this story (and my others) but for the pairing it will be Itachi. He won the most votes.

Maybe until next time,

**DWM**


	6. Resigning

Disclaimer: It's really simple, I don't own Naruto.

**O0O**

Warning: English is not my native language, so I write it very slowly. Can't do it without a dictionary and I'm really happy with the spell checker.

**O0O**

**Chapter 6: Resigning**

Two young ninjas walked around, searching for their Jounin-sensei. Fifteen minutes had passed since Naruto had left them.

"Where is Kakashi?" Sakura sighed and wondered. "How is it possible that Naruto could get his hands on these bells?"

Sakura looked at her teammate, but he shook his head silently. Sasuke was not in the mood for answers. They would get it when they found Kakashi.

_"__Yes, __we__are__alone with__Sasuke__! __Come on__, do something,"_ inner-Sakura cried in her head.

The pink-haired girl hold nervously her hands together and stared at the ground. "Uhm, Sasuke-kun, do you think...?"

The young Uchiha however motioned her to be quiet and frowned. Sasuke saw Kakashi standing by a few bushes. However, what really was strange, that he didn't react to their presence.

"Something isn't right," Sasuke muttered and ran to him, followed by Sakura.

Once they stood for Kakashi, their eyes were wide with surprise. It was if Kakashi was completely entranced.

Sasuke cursed and waved a hand in front of their sensei's face. "I can't believe this, but the dobe actually trapped him in a genjutsu!"

Fortunately, he knew how he could free a victim from a genjutsu. He formed with his hands a seal for a Kai and placed his hand on Kakashi's chest and tried to stop the flow of his chakra. It was fortunate enough to disturb the effect, and a moment later Kakashi blinked with his visible eye.

"Ugh..." The jounin sank to his knees and then stared confused around.

"Sasuke… Sakura?"

The young Uchiha shook his head and folded his arms. "You were caught in Naruto's genjutsu, sensei."

Kakashi rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Ah... Rin... Obito... It was so real! I can't believe it. It seemed like weeks... I just had not the willpower to break out of it! "

Then he frowned and shook his head. "What a powerful genjutsu..."

"Sensei? Was it really Naruto?" Sakura looked worriedly at the man. She couldn't believe that Naruto had captured a jounin in a genjutsu. It had to be somebody else, it was impossible that it was Naruto.

However, Sasuke had other thoughts. How did he do that? How did the dobe even mastered such a jutsu? Then he glanced at Sakura with a frown and sighed inwardly. And why was he put up with a stupid fangirl?

"Anyway, where is Naruto?" Kakashi asked after he got up and scratched his chin.

"He left, after he gave us each a bell and that was all before the alarm went off," Sakura replied a little nervous while she showed him her bell.

"WHAT!"

"Hn." Sasuke nodded and showed the jounin also his bell. "You gave us your word sensei. Whoever the bell had, succeeded. Naruto emphasized this particular... "

Kakashi stared bewildered at Sasuke. "I gave my word... what?"

Kakashi's visible eye went wide and he swore aloud. He remembered the casual question of Naruto where he so inattentive on had responded. Now the whole test was completely ruined thanks to the fact that he had stupidly given his word. How could he be so guileless! And his own motto was always to look underneath the underneath!

**O0O**

The blond boy pulled off his hitai-ate, his forehead protector with Konoha's symbol, of his head and stared at the object, a special personal memento of Iruka. He felt like a traitor, but it had to be done.

Naruto took a deep breath and then walked into the tower where the Hokage was. A few floors up he walked to the office of the Hokage where he met the secretary next to the door.

It was a short-haired woman with glasses who had a rather indifferent and dull appearance. The woman stopped with polishing her nails and looked up at the person in front of her.

Naruto frowned for a moment when he saw the cold look in her eyes. There were people who were more tolerant than others but annoying enough this was just not the person he wanted to meet.

"What do you want brat..." the woman snapped.

"I'll bring back something, it is for the Hokage," the blond boy replied curtly.

"The Hokage is busy; come back another time."

The cold answer wasn't a surprise for Naruto. The disguised kitsune snorted inwardly. Her slightly trembling fingers betrayed her nervousness, and he could smell her fear. It was ironic that despite her hatred, the woman could not suppress it, even if she was a trained shinobi. She wanted him to leave as soon as possible.

The blonde boy shrugged and just walked to the door and knocked.

"Hey, didn't you hear me brat!" the secretary cried and stood up with a jerk.

Her protest was silenced when she heard the voice of the Hokage.

**O0O**

Hiruzen Sarutobi the Hokage watched with a slight frown at the currently disguised kitsune who stood before his desk now. Naruto had a strange look in his eyes. The Hokage saw also that Naruto had no longer the hitai-ate on his forehead but in his hands.

The Hokage had a suspicion and sighed inwardly. Kakashi probably failed team seven, despite his insistence.

"So, what's the reason that you are here Naruto? I assume this is not for a social chat," Hiruzen asked. "You failed Kakashi's test?"

Naruto shook his head and sighed. He knew that his decision wouldn't make the Hokage happy.

"I don't know Jiji Hokage, as far as I know, that test wasn't a problem. I took the bells from Kakashi and gave them to the others."

The Hokage raised an eyebrow. He was not unfamiliar with this test... There must be a whole story behind it, but he would hear it from Kakashi soon.

Naruto put the hitai-ate on the desk. "I've thought seriously about it. I want to resign Jiji... Almost everybody hates me and I'm afraid, I will eventually end up as a nukenin. And that's the last thing I want. I don't know how long I have before I'm totally exposed and have to flee for my life..." the young Naruto explained bitterly.

The old man sighed, shook his head and reached for his pipe, and blew thick gray clouds of smoke, ignoring Naruto who in a coughing fit hasty waved the smoke away. He stared through the window at the four giant stone sculptures of the Hokage's faces that were carved out of the rocks.

He understood Naruto's problem. He knew how the people of Konohagakure would react when they could see the kitsune girl. There was little he could do against the hatred and grievance in the hearts of these people. He acknowledged that it had been his greatest mistake when he didn't keep Naruto's status as a Jinchuriki a secret. It was ironic that the Kyuubi wasn't longer a threat, but in the eyes of the people was Naruto nothing more than the hated monster.

This was throwing a monkey wrench in his plans. Should he refuse or accept? Was there an alternative? Naruto was relatively speaking, still their best trump card in the power game of the shinobi world. He still had no idea how powerful she really was. The nine tails of Naruto weren't there for show.

"Are you sure Naruto? Wasn't it your dream to become the hokage?" the old man asked while he looked him... her seriously in the eyes.

Naruto frowned. His dream... In his eyes it was no more than a bitter memory, it was past tense.

"That was my dream Jiji, but no longer possible, you know why," he replied, shaking his head.

The Hokage emptied his pipe and nodded. "And what do you think what your options are, if you no longer want to be a ninja? I doubt if there are enough options for you, here in Konohagakure."

"Well, for so long it works I wanted to be a ramen chef, and if that is not possible, then there are enough other options for me. I can take plenty of other shapes with my Henge no Jutsu and find work elsewhere."

The old man sighed. "Naruto, you know that the henge jutsu is not as stable as many would think. The transformation can be broken under certain circumstances. It can also be discovered by chuunin and jounin. It amazes me how much luck you have, really."

The disguised kitsune winced.

"It's not easy as a citizen, Naruto. As a shinobi you fall under my responsibility, but that will change if you resign."

Naruto's shoulders sagged. His situation looked really bleak. But his instinct told him to stop; as a ninja he would be a caged animal, snared by the walls of Konoha.

The Hokage watched how the 'blond boy' thought seriously about his situation, and was convinced that Naruto would make the right choice. But it shocked the old man when he heard Naruto's answer.

"Jiji Hokage, I'm not a dog, but a fox," the blond boy answered and pointed at the hitai-ate that lay on the desk, "and that thing is nothing more than a collar that binds me to his master. A fox is a wild animal that wants to be free and the wilderness is his home."

Naruto shook his head. "Sorry, but this is my choice. No ninja for me, not even for all the money in the world."

After these words he bowed and left the office before the surprised Hokage could say something. The bewildered Hiruzen stared at the door where the legacy of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki left, their son turned daughter and vixen that practically had sworn off the shinobi life.

**O0O**

Naruto yawned while she entered her home and directly after she closed the door behind her, she released her henge. A sixteen year old kitsune girl with nine tails became visible. However, she was only dressed in her black shirt. That morning she had not even bothered to put her sandals on that still lay untouched by the front door.

With the disappearing of her henge something fell on the floor and the girl stared for a moment at an orange book. She picked it up, it was Kakashi's book that she already had forgotten. With a simple throw, it landed on a table that stood in the middle of the living room. She had better things to do than to worry about that perverted book.

She walked barefoot to a cupboard and took out a few instant ramen cups. Then she quickly put a kettle on a fire. It had been a tiring morning and Naruto had decided to take a nap after her meal. It was ironic that she wasted so much time with sleeping while she had so much energy.

But always in a henge, day in and day out, could be quite tiring. The irony was that most of her chakra energy was sealed in her nine tails. The knowledge was instinctive, and she knew if she would just unseal but one tail, whole Konoha would be in uproar.

But unfortunately Jiji-Hokage was right. The henge wasn't stable, but luckily it was almost second nature to her. Her henge wasn't easy to break, even if she was injured or got hit. That was something she was only grateful for. She would rather not think about it what could be happen, if she was so easily exposed.

But it was tiringly. The henge took a lot of energy. Even a professional shinobi wasn't continuously for days in a henge. She also didn't have good control over her chakra and thus the henge used a lot more energy than was needed.

She sat on a stool at the table since a regular chair was not really practical with her nine extra tails. She slurped the last of her ramen and with a sigh she stared at the empty cups. It would not take long before her stock of instant ramen was gone. What was she going to do now she wasn't a shinobi anymore? The financial support of the Hokage will probably stop. Originally it was intended that she would support herself with her own income as a ninja. But that option was no longer available.

Was it stupid of her to quit as a shinobi? Naruto shook her head. No, ironically a ninja lived a dangerous life and annoying enough, the people in Konoha were the major risk factor. The danger came from within, not from outside. As she concluded, as long she was in Konoha, she was walking around in a gigantic deathtrap. Maybe she was a lot safer as a ninja, but it wasn't really a good idea in the long term. If she had to flee, they would label her as a missing-nin. No, that wasn't true freedom.

Shaking her head she threw the empty cups in the trash can.

She walked over to her sleeping place while she yawned, picked her favourite rabbit doll up and rubbed it against her cheeks, which always gave her a pleasant feeling. Tired as she was, she made herself comfortable among the many pillows on the floor and quickly dozed off.

Suddenly somebody knocked on the door.

Naruto turned around and ignored the knocking. The knocking continued and she couldn't ignore it any longer and stood up with a snarl. In her annoyance she forgot that she was no longer in a henge. She stomped to the door and pulled it open with a jerk.

It was Kakashi-sensei, still with his fist half raised, that began to stare at her with a shocked expression.

Okay, it was the one-eyed jounin forgiven. You would be shocked too, when you faced two glowing red piercing eyes, a snarling face with sharp teeth's and nine bristeld tails swishing behind her back. It was the first time that Kakashi saw her true form, a grown teenage-kitsune girl, a lot more different than the twelve year old young boy Naruto. A picture of her face had not been enough to prepare him for this frightening confrontation.

"Kakashi-san?" Her reaction sounded mixed with surprise and irritation.

The jounin recovered fast from his shock and scratched behind his ears. Even Naruto's voice was different, a typical mezzo-soprano what you would expect from a girl.

"Maa, Naruto why so surprised? Do you think I wouldn't visit you after the test without telling you the result, even if you embarrassed me with your last stunt? Anyway, may I come in? It's not something that can be told at the front door," he replied as he quickly looked around, hoping that no one else saw her now.

Naruto nodded and let him quickly in and walked ahead. The jounin blushed when he noticed that she had a naked backside, which was half hidden by her nine tails and her long red hair. The only garment that she apparently wore, was a long black shirt and that didn't help to make her decent. Not to mention the lack of a bra. He mentally shook his head. He could understand that it could be problematic if you had a tail, let alone when you had nine of them. Remarkably, she wasn't ashamed of her state of dress, maybe it had something to do with her kitsune nature. Or it could be that she was just persistent ignoring her female state, which wasn't better, really.

"I would like to offer you a drink, but I have only water or milk," she said apologetically.

Kakashi shook his head. "That's no problem, just water," he answered calmly, while inwardly he was only too happy that he wore a mask that hid his blush.

They took a seat at the table where the jounin got a glass of water. Kakashi sighed and looked at the kitsune girl.

"Your genjutsu is remarkable Naruto. But you hit me deep in my heart. It's not really nice to open up old wounds, even if you had good intentions."

For a moment the kitsune girl was shocked and then stared with a guilty face at the tabletop. "I'm sorry Kakashi-san. It was never my intention to hurt you."

Naruto looked sadly up at Kakashi. "But wasn't that your heart's desire? When I use the Mindscape jutsu, next for the manipulative function, I can look in your heart and fulfil your deepest desires or let you experience your worst nightmares. The genjutsu isn't permanent and uses your memories to create a dreamworld in your mind. Usually it stops after a few hours, or if your willpower is strong enough, you can break it."

The one-eyed jounin rubbed his chin upon hearing this information. Little was known about Naruto's kekkei genkai. Her technique was a dojutsu, a powerful genjutsu. One look in her eyes was enough to be captured in her genjutsu. But one thing was certain, he had become lax concerned his mental training; his willpower was practically nonexistent.

"Do you know who my old teammates were, Naruto?" Kakashi then asked. He had a suspicion that still had to be confirmed.

Naruto held her right index finger against her chin while she seemed to think deeply. "Uchiha Obito, Rin Nohara and your team leader was Minato Namikaze. Wasn't he the Yondaime Hokage?"

It was very quiet for a moment in the living room. Kakashi nodded slowly and his eyes narrowed. "How much have you seen?"

The kitsune girl shrugged. "Not much, just enough to see that you had a strong bond with them and that they are no longer alive. It was your deepest desire to see them once again, a wish that I tried to fulfil for you."

Kakashi relaxed and inwardly he sighed with relief. But still, it looked like that Naruto's genjutsu apparently went deeper than he had thought. Ibiki Morino would be certainly interested in her.

"Naruto, you can't use this 'heart's desire' jutsu against Konoha shinobi without their permission. Many have quite sensitive information and this could be seen as a big privacy breach and personal attack," he warned her very serious. She had probably also used this technique against the Hokage, and that was worrisome enough.

"Anyway, I didn't come here to discuss about your kekkei genkai. The genin test, what was it about, do you know it?" He asked in a now friendly voice.

Naruto frowned. She had a suspicion for a while. She wasn't the smartest, but also not the dumbest.

"Teamwork I guess, I'm not sure..."

The one-eyed jounin eye-smiled. "It is indeed teamwork, too bad you weren't sure of it. A ninja needs to look always underneath the underneath."

"Teamwork huh?" the kitsune girl muttered and shook her head. Sasuke, Sakura and herself were all but the epitome of teamwork. She wondered which idiot had put their team together.

Somewhere in a tower the Hokage sneezed.

Oh yeah, it was the Hokage.

Then she shrugged. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter anymore. I gave Sasuke and Sakura the bells, and you gave us your word that they passed when they had a bell."

Kakashi sighed deeply. It was the biggest mistake he had ever made . Never make a deal with a kitsune because it was always yourself that got the short end of the stick.

"And that's the problem why I'm here now, Naruto. A standard genin team consists of three people plus a jounin who acts as leader and sensei. Believe it or not Naruto, but through your sacrificial action you have proven that you don't just work for yourself. You passed," he informed her.

The kitsune girl stared in disbelief at Kakashi. "Huh? Passed?"

The jounin eye-smiled. "Yep, and I will expect you tomorrow morning promptly eight o'clock at the same place, together with your teammates. Congratulations!"

"Ho, wait a minute," she cried, completely surprised, as she stood up and quickly shook her head. "Kakashi-san, don't you know that two hours ago I stopped with the whole ninja business. I left my hitai-ate at the Hokage, resigned… no longer am I a shinobi of Konoha, but an ordinary citizen!"

Kakashi's mouth fell open. "What? Why did you do that? Don't you know that you are a great asset to us as Shinobi?"

Naruto snorted. "Tell that to all the people who hate me. They see only the Kyuubi, not the person that I am. As a ninja, I can only end up as a missing-nin. I know I have to flee… someday. They will not accept a 'monster' in their midst."

The one-eyed jounin stared with a frown at the kitsune girl. Most would indeed see a monster in her. But what he saw was a frustrated girl who was almost at the end of her rope. At that moment he had no idea how he could help her.

"And another problem is, that I'm not really free as a ninja," the kitsune girl sighed.

When Kakashi heard that, he slowly stood up and put a hand on her shoulder. "Naruto, don't give up..."

She stared tiredly at the one-eyed jounin. "Thanks, but if you don't mind, I'd need to take a nap."

It was not much later when Kakashi stood outside again and stared at the sky. Then he shook his head and stared at his orange book that he had stolen back from Naruto and put it quickly away.

**O0O**

A couple of hours elapsed after Naruto's departure and Hiruzen Sarutobi, the hokage, stared at the eternal mountain of paperwork on his desk. Sighing, he emptied his pipe and put it away and then cracked his fingers, ready for the hopeless task that lay before him.

The test for the genins passed hours ago and although the hokage still expected a last person for his report, he could not afford to waste his time with waiting for the person who was always too late with everything. Kakashi Hatake, he would probably even arrive late for his own funeral.

He just wanted to get his thirtieth paper of the big pile when there was a knock on the door.

With a sigh, the old man withdrew his hand.

"Enter..." the Hokage said surly, and folded his hands and shook his head. Kakashi never made it this late.

An one-eyed jounin came in and greeted the old man. "Hokage-sama, I'm here for a mission report of Team Seven."

The old man nodded. "And Kakashi? How did the test go?"

The one-eyed jounin scratched behind his head and sighed. "Not as I expected. To tell the truth, it was a big mess."

"Oh?" The hokage raised his eyebrows. "Explain..."

"Well, Sasuke was very promising, but he only worked on his own, no teamwork. I had no opportunity to test Sakura, but from what I gathered, she was a fangirl that followed Sasuke, but completely ignored by him. No interesting qualities. And Naruto... ah well. I haven't even gotten the chance to test him… her. I fell instantly prey to her genjutsu, and so it was very easy for Naruto to get the bells from me. He gave the bells to Sasuke en Sakura and left. It was eventually Sasuke who helped me out of the genjustu."

Hiruzen couldn't help but to smile. "Naruto's genjutsu seems at first sight not easy to overcome, since it is if you're trapped in your own inner world. But the trick is sheer willpower, strong will enough to break out of it."

The one-eyed Jounin nodded. The hokage had not for nothing the nickname 'The Professor'.

"I've talked to Naruto, and she told me a bit about her kekkei genkai, and willpower plays indeed a big role," confirmed Kakashi. Then he began to give an extensive report about Naruto's genjutsu.

The more the Hokage heard, the more serious the look in his eyes was. So, Naruto was capable to look into the hearts, or better said, in the minds of people. It was practically at the same level as the Mind Reading technique of Inoichi Yamanaka and it was likely at a higher level than Yuhi Kurenai's genjutsu. He had Naruto's genjutsu classified as an A-rank and not without reason. But if it could be deadly also, that was the question. Then it would be able to rise to an S-rank easily. Kakashi's suggestion that she could easily be eligible for Konoha's Interrogation Force was not misplaced.

"That was very informative. But it still amazes me that you as a jounin level couldn't break the genjutsu. What was the real reason?" Hiruzen asked intrigued. The hokage looked surprised when he saw a melancholic look on Kakashi's face.

"Naruto knew exactly where to hit. I was with Obito, Rin and the Fourth Hokage. I relived my youth, but in a better place. It was a happy but a short time that took practically weeks... so realistic... I simply had not the will to break out of it," the one-eyed ninja explained with a look that spoke of a deep desire.

Now Hiruzen was surprised. He expected more a story with a harem or a woman, but not this. The hokage stroked thoughtfully his beard. No warning, no hand sign. Just boom... a look in Naruto's eyes was enough. It was frightening if you started to think about it.

"And what now?" the hokage asked.

Kakashi sighed. "The truth is that Naruto tricked me. The cunning vixen, she managed somehow to give me my word that they would win if they had a bell. I have no other choice than to accept Sasuke and Sakura as Team Seven. But Naruto, that is a problem. After the test I started immediately to look for her and found her finally at home. However, it was too late, since she already had resigned. She worries about her safety and I fear that she will not stay long in Konoha."

The Hokage could only confirm this and nodded while he stared at the hitai-ate on his desk. "I know. A few hours ago she was here and resigned. She was too hard headed. I could have easily refused, but I didn't want to break the bond between us over this. Furthermore, it's not wise to have a reluctant and recalcitrant person in a team. But it is indeed worrisome that she no longer considers Konoha her home. Somehow we need to convince her that she has a better chance in life as a shinobi of Konoha. One thing is certain, she needs training. Invite her Kakashi, train her, that's the least you can do for now."

With a tired face the hokage rubbed on his forehead and then looked through the window outside at the giant rocky faces, as if they could give him the answers that he so hard needed.

Kakashi stroked his chin. In his head he started to devise a plan how to get Naruto in his team. It wouldn't be easy, that was for sure.

**O0O**

It was late in the evening when an apparently half-blind and disabled black-haired old man looked up from his desk. Danzo Shimura received a scroll from a person, half hidden in the shadow. The old man nodded and opened the scroll.

"Hmm, so Minato's legacy has resigned? Strange. Ah, she's afraid... It's true, a ninja who gives in to fear, is definitely not a good shinobi."

The old man then stared at the photo of a certain kitsune girl. "And yet it is a waste to let a sword in the sheath. But it is really fascinating; the Jinchuriki is no longer the jailer, but the new Kyuubi..."

Danzo stared at the man in the shadows. "Keep an eye on her. Make sure that she in no way will leave Konoha. I have plans for her."

"Hai Danzo-sama," the unknown person answered and quickly disappeared out of sight.

"She looks more like Kushina than I thought," Danzo muttered while he studied the photograph of a sleeping kitsune girl. "In the right hands she can be formed into a sharp weapon that is unmatchable. Konoha's weapon. Ah, fools, all of them. Especially Hiruzen... Why don't you want to see what Naruto really is?"

**O0O**

To be continue.

**Author Notice:** There, chapter 6. I rewrote a big part more than four times. It wasn't easy and I'm still not pleased with it. The chapter is too short but I can't help. It seems that I can only write one or two chapters a year. Really, I hate English as language. It's all thanks to Google that I even could write it. (Checking phrases and words, etc.) Ah well, until next time.


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